


A Myth by any other name

by DemonessKneesocks



Series: Anatomy of a Myth [1]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Alien Biology, Blood and Violence, Body Horror, Cannibalism, Character Death, Dark, Dark Humor, Dialogue Heavy, Horror, Implied Sexual Content, Interspecies Romance, Mild Gore, Minor Character Death, Multi, Murder, Mythical Beings & Creatures, Original Character(s), Original Female Character(s) - Freeform, Original Male Character(s) - Freeform, Original Non-Human Character(s) - Freeform, Original take on mythology, Teratophilia, Xenophilia, noir
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-09
Updated: 2018-06-15
Packaged: 2018-12-03 00:31:24
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 14
Words: 31,422
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11520747
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DemonessKneesocks/pseuds/DemonessKneesocks
Summary: Myths have been around as far as the earliest legends, well, they were the earliest legends. Unfortunately for us they feed on not-so-usual foods and we´re on the menu.One night three reckless kids make a bad decision and it doesn´t come without its consequences, plus a maniac trying to wipe their species out of the face of Earth. Follow the friends as they navigate through Myth society´s rules and try their best to not get in more trouble.





	1. Stranger danger

**Author's Note:**

  * For [SpookyBearGhost](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SpookyBearGhost/gifts).



> Something that´s been on my mind for years and has finally decided to come out, expect chapters to be around 2000 words as this is just a hobby to take my mind off stress.
> 
> http://demonesskneesocks.tumblr.com/ if you have any questions or comments to me directly.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The world is a dangerous place, better take care fore you fall to one of the oldest ruses in history.

Throughout the ages some humans have enjoyed looking at the stars above them, taking in the night sky painted with small glimmers into the outer world and wonder if they are truly alone. To look out there and find another species with whom to share knowledge about the universe´s many mysteries, taking in an alien culture from the other side of the galaxy and how we were not so different after all.

Have some people considered others (mainly not so human creatures) may be more interested in humans as a food source rather than equals? Yes.

Have they thought them to be already living among us? Definitely.

Have they found any proof? Indeed, but most did not have long to live upon such realization. They became prey in a food chain spanning back to an older time when there were still no walls dividing kingdoms, no dynasties to rule the vastness of the land.

Who was at the top of the food chain, you may wonder? Hunters. Hunters adapted to survive in all matter of environments which could foster human life and who honed their skills throughout generations since arriving to take advantage of any weakness displayed by the variety of humans they could encounter.

These predators had come from the stars humans so admired, roaming the vast universe looking for a planet capable of providing what they seek most of all, food. Their story did not survive the passage of time, however, forgotten to every descendant alive, a piece of the puzzle lost each time it was passed down or merely not given enough importance to continue its way up the family tree.

Survival was key in the brand new world they´d arrived on, much like a human would eat the flesh of another animal to continue living so would these aliens mimic the action. To them the human race was akin to what a zebra was to a lion, except the zebra would remain forever unaware their purpose could very well be to die in order for another to live on. It was important not to only get sustenance to support their numbers but also remain undetected, for they may have the evolutionary advantage but the humans had ever growing numbers on their side and as the ages progressed so did their technology, a rock became a spear that soon turned to bow and in the blink of an eye a gunpowder changed everything.

Then came the digital revolution before anyone had the chance to say anything, cameras came about, then video went from curiosity to being in the hands of every person in the world in the span of less than a century. Life became hard in this constantly monitored society, Myth numbers dwindled as many did not want to raise a child to constantly trapeze around what was to come. Still, many persevered into the modern age, perfecting and adapting the hunting skills passed down through generations.

 

****

 

´Liquid Luck´ was in full swing, both bartenders having no time for their usual banter with regulars, their hands constantly picking up either a glass or a bottle of alcohol, from the cheapest shot to the most expensive brandy all sorts of spirits, an endless exchange of money at every drink poured, for their policy would always be ´no tabs´.

In a more secluded corner far from all the commotion one could observe a man chatting up a woman, both having consumed a growing number of drinks from the different-sized glasses occupying the center of the table.

“Well color me surprised, I never though a man like this would be your type.” One of the bartenders had come over to their table, depositing a small tumbler filled a third of the way in front of each. “Mainly because I was hoping he´d be my type.” The tall man gives a wink to his friend´s date who subtly blushes and turns his head away.

“Back off, Johan.” The woman smiled and stuck her tongue out in amusement. “Did you seriously leave your sister alone just to come and try to pick up my date?”

“Doesn´t hurt to try, now does it?”

“Go and help your sister before she comes to drag you back.”

Johan took a mocking bow, smiled in his just shy of infuriating way and went away with a small wave. As the couple watched him back away the woman chuckled and picked up the drink, taking a sip before muttering something about the ´damned wolf being too knowing´.

“I´m sorry about him, I´d say he´s a few cards short of a full deck but what would that say about me?”

“No, that´s alright. I was more, let´s say troubled, at being picked up in the middle of a date. This is a date, yes?” He ran a hand through short brown locks, looking away wondering if it may have been too soon to bring up that particular theme.

The woman chuckled again and knocked back the rest of her drink, releasing an appreciative sigh.

“Why would it not be?” With a wink and a smile it was hook, line and sinker, he was caught, gutted and hanging in her trophy room.

At that precise moment the man decided going to the bar had turned out to be a good idea. No, a great idea. He´d had some drinks and met a lady who was not shy on the flirting. Could he get her to give both into his charms and into his arms?

“This is my last night here, would you like to share it with me? My motel is a five minute walk and the bed would feel a lot more comfortable with you, I’d love if you´d give me the honor of sharing it with me.” A smile, a genuine one as surprising as it was, bloomed on his face and she could not deny him, not when her compass also pointed south.

Alanna leaned forward, narrowing her eyes and then closing them completely, and he caught on, meeting her halfway for a short kiss. There was a smile splaying on her lips and a hit of a blush on her cheeks when they parted, she raised a hand to caress his chin.

“I would love to make this a night you´d never forget. I´m all yours for the time being.”

Those magical words made him steal a quick kiss and get up, pulling her along with him out of the bar and into the chilly streets, the night having already settled in. How long had they been talking?

“Look who just left.” The woman behind the bar murmurs to her companion and tilts her head towards the door just as it closed behind the pair. She´d been busy all night but not enough to ignore her friends picking up and leaving with their respective dates.

“Lucky bastard.” Her brother, not so amused by the scene, scowled, having had his eye on the man earlier. On busy nights like that it was useless to pick up someone, as whoever he took a liking to were quickly swept away by someone else, usually a regular.

“Are you talking about her or him?”

“Depends on how long this one will last. I could go for a tumble on the sheets but she´s a bit low on my list.”

“On mine she isn´t.” Sinai laughs and offers a smile to the woman ordering the drink. The night wasn´t over yet, after all.

“Et tu, sister?”

****

 

The couple walked side-by-side, their talk having died down to be replaced by a somewhat awkward tension-filled silence. A maddening lustful and awkward tension-filled silence.

A little over two minutes into their walk and the man can´t stand any more waiting, the woman next to him occupied all of his mind, his brain too addled to function properly and baser instincts rising above rational thinking make him take initiative before a bed is within sight.

A sudden pull on her arm and she was suddenly alone in a dark alley with her date, back pressed against the wall and a mouth desperately kissing her neck while both hands wrapped around her waist, feeling the warm body hidden beneath the clothes that was starting to heat up even more at the not unwelcome physical contact.

“Ah, couldn´t wait to get started.” A moan slipped away and she was not ashamed of it. “I like a guy with a good drive.” Her hands did some exploring of their own, up and down the man´s back, slowly as to savor the moment, enjoying his worship of her beauty.

“With the way you were coming onto me no man could resist, sweetheart. I´m about to eat you up.” A roll of the hips and there it was, the evidence of arousal. “What else do you like about me?”

She gave him a smile and pressed her lips to his neck, reciprocating his early action “I like your type, eager and naïve.” A bite to the neck and it was ecstasy to her.

Something went wrong at that moment, red bloomed where it should have stayed beneath.

He tried to scream, but the sound never made it past his mouth. Mainly because his throat was ripped open, blood pouring out, flesh exposed to the night air, permeating it with a copper smell his killer kept inhaling deeply again and again. The last thing the man would ever see was a deforming face, beauty morphing into a goddess of the night who had been planning his undoing from the moment she´d laid eyes on him.

The dead body began to feel the effects of gravity, knees buckling and it could no longer remain upright with the life snuffed out. A pair of pitch black tentacles wrapped loosely around the victim, one pressing against the neck and absorbing the blood despite the smooth appearance. Another pressed against the pool of blood on the floor and mimicked the one on the man´s neck, cleaning up the crime scene by drawing in the sweet nectar of life.

The woman from before was no longer the picture of that of beautiful female, at least by human standards. The body so black it could be mistaken for a shadow, one could no longer tell if it was male or female, the face and torso smooth, only crown-like horns and a pair of golden eyes remain where dark brown pools and a cascade of white once were. Five pairs of wings sprouted from the back along with a spear tipped tail swaying lazily in the air, as if ready to strike anyone whom was daring enough to interrupt the meal.

The body was pulled against the alien creature´s torso and a mouth seemed to appear from nowhere on it, running diagonally from the right shoulder to the hip. A tongue came out and dragged its meal inside where sharp teeth sank into it and helped swallow the prey whole into what appeared to be an infinite void because there were no outward changes in the black mass engulfing it. A few muffled crunches later the mouth closed completely until it was only a thin line, but not before the tongue swept its outside, searching for any remains after the meal.

There was a sort of ripple, the creature trembling before it started to lose its beastly characteristics and shrink. In mere seconds the woman was back, not one hair out of place, licking her lips akin to what the monstrous tongue had done previously. She cracked her back and neck, raising her arms in a stretching motion and let out a sigh.

“Damn, now I´ve got to wait almost two weeks before I can hunt again. Figures, I get a kinky guy and I give into hunger in an alleyway.”

Her form retreated back into the open streets and the woman started the journey back home, hunger satisfied for the time being and a desire for some sleep to help digest her meal taking over her mind.


	2. Memories

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alanna has come to terms that remembering can bring up both happy and sad memories.
> 
> Character ages in the present:  
> Alanna Marquis Delmar: 38 years old, succubus.  
> Alexander "Alex" Santerre Delmar (her son): 12 years old, incubus.  
> Victoria Delmar (her mother): 105  
> Laurent Marquis (her father): Died ten years ago with 60  
> Nathaniel Marquis (her brother): 44  
> Malik Santerre (her husband): Died 12 years ago with 28

A well-known fact is that Myths eat humans for survival. They can eat regular foods but without consuming humans their strength will slowly fade away, giving turn to a slow and agonizing death, that is, if they ignore the overwhelming desire to feast once more deeply ingrained in their minds. Like a relapse, it is brutal and all consuming, any human in their path will become their first victim, regardless of the rules Myths abide by to not get caught. Luckily this was not one of those cases, only a case of pure and simple overstuffing the night before (with some alcohol in the mix) and waking up with the feeling your stomach hates you because of your previous decisions.

Alanna was regretting not having waited another day before going hunting, her other meal had not completely been digested and with the fresh one on top of it was a sickening feeling. A few groans and she pushes herself to glimpse at the clock on her nightstand, 10:13 a.m. greets her in red. Yet more groans and the grown woman is rolling onto her side, hugging a pillow while stuffing her face into it. Red reminded her of food and food of her poor decision.

There was a soft knock on her door and a whispering voice asking to come in shortly after. She knew who it is and what they likely brought but not even that thought made the churning of her stomach less unpleasant. A pillow muffled groan, something along the lines of ´kill me now´, signaled their permission to enter.

“You sound like an angry seal. Here, figured you´d enjoy some tea.” Her Alexander always seemed to know when she made mistakes like this. It was like he inherited some memories from his father, when he´d do the same thing for her, only less preaching on how it was a bad idea and why was he dating a serial killer. She missed Malik at times like those.

“Have I told you you´re my favorite son?” Her voice was still muffled but the joy settling in was noticeable.

“I´m your only son. Twelve years and counting.”

“Details.” She chuckled and propped herself up on the pillows, taking her time with lazy motions, her brain still not caught up to the present time. When she settled down and could finally look at her son for a brief moment the golden skin and the black hair showed someone who wasn´t there.

Alanna´s smile dropped and nostalgia packed a mean punch right into her gut.

It wasn´t the first time she´d mistaken Alexander´s face for Malik´s. So many times, more often than not when she got home with a little too much to drink, in that face she saw a budding artist with a penchant for fiction novels and dark braided hair held back by the same red ribbon her little incubus now wore. Sometimes Alanna wondered if her reasoning behind giving her son the ribbon was just to make him resemble his deceased father even more, but he wore it without being asked, maybe just to make her happy.

She was so selfish and never took the initiative to change it, not even after that day, and somehow was both satisfied with it and always hoping to give up on her old habits.

“Do you want some?” Suddenly the black hair was straight and shorter, the golden skin lightened and the cognac eyes looked at her with worry.

“Oh, erm yes. My bad, I´m still half-asleep.”

Snapped out of her thoughts Alannna accepted the mug presented to her and brought it close to her face, inhaling the floral scent of the bright red drink. She also too notice of the remnants of ice cubes floating on the surface disappearing. Alex knew her so well, she´d always burned her tongue with hot beverages because she lacked the patience to let them cool. Sometimes she wondered if he knew more about her than she knew about him.

“Hibiscus tea, I love you so much. So, where will you be going today? Michael´s house? You told me he got a cool new game.” Despite her doubts on her knowledge about her son she knew he would only make her tea when he wanted to go somewhere. He could be an opportunistic bastard… just like her. Alanna wasn´t sure whether to be proud or bothered how he could very well end up picking up on her less favorable traits.

“Sorry to disappoint, but no. If you need me I´ll be at Yeong-hui´s house, her dad made chocolate pizza for after lunch.” Alex´s childish excitement could almost be seen coming off in waves and Alanna took a long sip of her tea to muffle her chuckles.

“Alright, be safe.” A hand brought his cheek for a quick hibiscus scented kiss. “And bring me a slice before it´s all gone. If you want to stay the night ask Eun-ah or Byung-ho to call me.”

“´Course I will, I´m always responsible.” With a final goodbye the boy waved and ran out to the front door, pausing only to shout a quick ´love you` before exiting.

Alone once more the succubus sipped the tea with more patience and a smile. Taking her phone from the nightstand to check on any messages she stopped unexpectedly at the lock screen, her happiness melting away to give place to a solemn expression accompanied a few stray tears. The date stared innocently at her as always but like every year she remembered. No matter how much she ignored it, drank or ate that pain was still there. All because of a human. A human who´d loved her so much.

She´d wanted to get some writing on her book done that day, but the action of merely getting out of bed started to look more and more difficult as the events of ten years ago settled in.

 

****

 

The phone rang, disrupting the laughs of the small child playing on the mat surrounded by a small wooden fence echoing inside the house. The woman got up from her place on the couch, the keyboards silencing as her train of thought was interrupted, to answer the call and to give Alexander a stuffed dolphin plush to take his mind off the familiar sound. The two year old wouldn´t be distracted for long but it gave her enough time to turn her back and be sure that five seconds later he´d still be in the same place. If she wasn´t so sure he´d turn out to be an incubus a mermaid-type moray would do just as fine, or maybe a lamprey. Slippery little guy he was, the fence had more than paid for itself but she still took no chances.

The caller I.D. told her it was her parents. Maybe they want to check up on them? Did she forget to call again? Alanna was sure her concept of time wasn´t skewed like before. A well-manicured hand picked up the phone and soon the woman was greeted by a good morning from her father.

“Good morning Ally dearest.” The man was still a ball of happiness in his old age.

“Morning dad, how are you?”

“I´m doing great, in fact it´s why I´m calling you. Your mother and I celebrate our 30th anniversary next week and we´d like to make it special.” For a sixty year old he still carried the excitement of a newlywed, it made her laugh how he´d randomly pull her mother close and give her a big smooch whenever she´d pop in for a visit.

Alanna took her seat again and just as predicted her son was grabbing onto the fence trying to climb up and when that didn´t work going between the wooden bars seemed like a good alternative. 

“Gimme!” A little hand reached out to her and frustrated pleas came through as well. Little Alex had a penchant for knowing when it was one of his grandparents on the phone and would not rest before saying hello.

“Hold on a bit, say hi to Alex or else he won´t give up until he´s found a way to break out of kiddie jail.” Keeling down she put the phone close to her son. “Say hello to grandpa.”

“Ganpaw! Hi!” The boy giggled and was met with an equally enthusiastic greeting. As predicted he then went back to his dolphin, content in having given his greetings.

“Sorry about him, you know how he loves when you come over. Now, I liked where the conversation was going.” Alanna took her seat again and leaned across the couch, legs crossed in the air and propped up by her elbows. “What do you have planned? Tell me, tell me.” 

“He´s just like your brother when he was a baby, I´m well acquainted with the ´greet and dash´. As for and your mother and I, well we´ve been discussing it for a while and decided to go for two weeks back to where we had our honeymoon. I haven´t talked to your brother yet, but we´d like both of you and your tiny tot to come with us one of those weeks and spend some family time together.”

“I´d love to go, I´m sure Alex would be ecstatic spending some time with his grandparents. I´m sure Nathan wouldn´t mind going either if you asked him, although we haven´t spoken in awhile. Some family time sounds like something we´d all enjoy.” 

“That´s great news, I´m so glad my baby girl still can find some time to spend with her parents. Hold on, looks like your mom wants to talk to you too. Anyway, it was good talking to you, would you mind coming over to discuss details? Lots of kisses.”

“Not at all.” She sends her kisses back in double and even calls Alex to the phone to say goodbye to his grandpa and hello to his grandma before he decided the plush was more interesting once again.

“Hey mom. I´ve heard the news, congratulations. Thirty years, time sure goes by faster every year.” Alanna´s voice took on a dreamy tone and she looked over to a framed picture of her and Malik, wondering if they would have survived that long with each other.

“Oh yes, times change but our love withstood it all. I still remember when I met him, a single father with a son and a smile that could guide a ship at sea. I used that pick up on him, you know?” Reminiscing had become one of her mother´s pastimes, old by human standards but still on the cusp of her prime as a Myth. Many wondered when she´d grow tired of playing house with a human but they´d always walked the same path together. 

There was something Alanna had been meaning to ask, something that´d been bothering her since that day when the mortality of a human hit home.

“Speaking of times changing, did you ever tell dad? I mean, of course you haven´t, but when he notices you´ve stayed pretty much the same since you met wouldn´t he start asking questions? You know, like Nathan.”

A sigh, defeat evident and sadness easily perceived come from the other side of the line. “No, to both your questions. He´s asked before but I managed to convince him I´ve got good genes and a healthy diet, I even told him you´d probably be the same. Sometimes I wish I hadn´t stopped aging until a decade later but that would have only hindered me in the long run.” Her voice was lower and devoid of the previous excitement, almost cold and detached. She had to be, or else when he left her behind the pain would be much greater, like saying goodbye to a pet, no matter how horrible the comparison was. “I knew what I was getting into when I married him, I´ve got about another one hundred years ahead of me and he´d be lucky to have 20. I try not to think about it, I want to enjoy my time with him. Your brother too.” 

It was true, Myths did live longer than humans. Victoria was one hundred and five but could pass for someone between thirty and forty. When her husband died she´d not only lose someone she loved dearly but it would start the countdown for her to disappear and begin life somewhere else. One could not stay rooted to a single place for long before people caught on and started asking the wrong type of questions, it was best to ´move out´ or even fake a death to have a fresh start far from the place they´d called home.

Victoria gazed outside to observe her husband tend to his roses and got a good view of him. Wrinkles, grey hair and the rest of the package but his smile hadn’t aged a year. She´d always made a point of enjoying every moment with her husband, knowing he´d be long gone before his age caught up with him. There was no regret, he gave her all his heart and she gave him hers, no matter if he died the next day she´d do it all over again in a heartbeat if given the chance.

 

****

 

It felt like someone should have laughed at the irony. Five months later her father was dead, having taken a turn for the worse and his heart gave out before the ambulance was even halfway to the hospital. There hadn´t been any sort of warning, one minute he´d been taking a walk in the garden, the next he´d collapsed and Victoria was frantically calling an ambulance and not long after he was gone. Just like that her father had went away and could never come back. Did it maker her a hypocrite to mourn for her father and yet take the lives of so many others? Maybe, but he was HER father. 

Some tears began to escape, a full decade and the pain of losing her father always came bubbling up on that day, the day reality came crashing hard it dawned upon her how much they had to hide from the humans who always ended as a part of their life, be it as friends, family or food.

She´d been lucky enough her husband had not only known, but accepted her for all the monstrous appearance beneath the outer human shell. The dating years had gone by, culminating into a small and cozy rented apartment and the birth of their little piece of sunshine, the latter obscured by the subsequent and tragic death of her spouse. He hadn´t even lived long enough to watch their only child celebrate his coming into the world. It shattered her heart like fine china, all those tiny pieces put together over time like a depressing puzzle with the help of her friends and family.

It was a sunny summer day outside but Alanna felt like sleeping and she doesn´t try to fight it. The pillows were put back, her half-filled mug is drained of the cold tea in one big gulp (how long had she been trapped in those memories?) and placed on her nightstand. 

Sleep was welcomed with open arms, the bliss of the dream world always got her through the day. Maybe she´d dream about a happier time in the past, one when her biggest worry was studying for a tough exam, or maybe an alternative future would greet her, where she still had her love and her dad.

One could dream, after all.


	3. Ruffled feathers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A harpy/wraith couple reminisce the old days while a harpy/incubus duo discuss their first hunt.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> New characters ahead:
> 
> Sun Eun-ah: Harpy (red-backed sea-eagle subspecies), 37 years old  
> Sang Byung-ho: Wraith (necromancer subspecies), 37 years old  
> Sun Yeong-hui: Harpy (red-backed sea-eagle subspecies), 13 years old

Somewhere not far from Alexander´s house sat a couple watching TV, killing some of their free weekend time before the real world called once again and they had to open their shop once again on Monday. Time had a tendency to either sit still for what seemed like years only to suddenly spring up and run after you, tackling you down, making a point of showing how things had changed, you´d just stayed the same.

“Our girl is growing up so fast. Before we know it she´ll be hunting by herself and won´t need our help anymore.” Byung-ho popped his back while stretching his arms high above his head. Cuddling with his wife and watching a movie had been a great past-time for a Saturday morning but remaining still in the same position for the first half made it a bit uncomfortable to move afterwards.

“Where did that come from? Already feeling old or is it nostalgia? You say that like-” Eun-ah opted for lying on the couch with her head on the man´s lap to do her stretching, a yawn surging to interrupt her sentence. “You say that like she´ll move across the world and never talk to us again. My sweet wraith, you know just as well as I do it´s natural to want to spread your wings and explore the world, we just have to make sure she´s ready when that time comes.” A hand came up to curl a strand of long auburn hair around a finger and not before long it had traveled further to the man´s face.

The wraith leaned onto his wife´s ministrations, closing his eyes and letting that familiar warmth spread through his entire body. They were a couple of killers, literally, having snuffed out countless lives throughout the years without remorse and yet had love enough to spare. Taking her hand in his Byung-ho laid a soft kiss on it before pulling her up to meet his lips, a request she had no qualms about fulfilling. Soon enough Eun-ah was sitting on her husband´s lap, hands intertwined, her head resting on the crook of his neck, both content in being able to share that small moment.

Byung-ho let himself relax against the couch and lifted a hand to pet the woman´s short blond hair, letting a content smile play on his lips. “She´s only thirteen and I´m already getting empty-nest syndrome.” Eun-ah chuckled at the light joke. “I want her to be prepared for whenever this world shoves her, if life gives her lemons she´ll throw them right back at it and we´ll make sure they hurt like hell.”

“There´s still plenty of time for family bonding. After her first hunt we can go out as a family, teach her some tricks on picking out the human, or how to avoid blood splattering onto the scene and if does how to cover it up… I remember doing that with my parents, I loved it when they would let me have the eyes and drain the blood. I´ll always treasure those memories.” The harpy recounted the memories with fondness, wondering if they´d have a chance to visit her parents in Germany. They´d went away six years ago to avoid any suspicion as to why they looked to be the same age as their daughter, leaving her only with a phone number and a family album. One day that would happen to her too, the idea of leaving her little hatchling behind pained her greatly but it was how it likely would be. Yeong-hui would have a life made for her, friends and maybe a family, or maybe she´d be the one to move away first. None of those options sounded very appealing but life had no brake pedal.

“She´ll always have us and all her friends. I still remember when Alanna and I met, we were 7, maybe 8? Then there were Olga, Nadia, Ullrich, you… I especially liked the last one. At least enough to marry her.” The wraith started to feel nostalgic as well, letting the memories surface in is mind. They´d bonded at first over being half-Korean, then when the first hunt came around they shared their first kill and followed that with a decade of full-fledged friendship. Going through a rough patch in their early adulthood had brought them closer together but still they weren´t quite sure until their mid-twenties. A marriage and a kid later Byung-ho and Eun-ah still hadn’t found a reason to end their journey.

“I challenged you to a tree climbing contest, we could have fallen and broken a few of bones. The others had to fetch help to get us down, it took forever for them to stop laughing at it!” A pout formed on the harpy´s face and she covered the blooming pink with her hands, letting an embarrassed groan slip out. A harpy needing help to get down from a tree, no matter if her true form hadn´t developed yet, had still been quite embarrassing.

“You say it as if they don´t still laugh at that.” Byung-ho laughed and kissed his wife´s forehead. “Hey, did you know I can see your roots.”

“You bastard!”

Eun-ah would have metaphorically killed someone else for having pointed that out but when it was her husband she knew it was a joke more than anything else. They soon were wrestling for a top position on the couch, trying to not fall off to the popcorn covered floor. Soon enough the harpy came out on top with a smug expression, her hands pinning her husband´s to the cushions and hips just about right so if he attempted to move it would prove rather arousing and with two children in the house it would not be the best moment for a quick romp.

“Say you´re sorry.” She leaned in close enough to whisper the statement, the background noise of the TV no longer their focus.

“Never.”

“Well then, I have ways to make you talk.”

“Be gentle, I´m fragile.”

“Don´t mind if I- wait, didn´t you have something cooking?”

“My lasagna!” Byung-ho got up so fast his wife fell to the floor, leaving a confused Eun-ah behind to pick popcorn out of her hair.

With that it was her that lost after all. To a tray of homemade lasagna. Go figure.

 

****

 

“Gah! Watch where you swing that thing, I don´t wanna become myth chow!”

“Sorry! I´m still learning how to control it. Mom said it might be a while before I have full control over my feeding mouth.”

Alex hurried to retract the tongue back to the inside of his body and pulled his shirt down, the mouth blending back seamlessly into his torso after closing. He´d only wanted to show off what marked the breakthrough in his development, not accidentally turn Yeong-hui into a meal.

They´d agreed to be hunting partners a while ago, even if she was a year older and already had her hunting components developed, meaning she could already go on her first hunt, Yeong-hui decided to wait in order to hone her skills and make sure her rite of passage went smoothly with no surprises. It was either success on the first try or bust, no way she´d need the assistance of the supervising adults, because nothing would go wrong on her watch.

“I could go without another of these scares, thank you very much.” The girl placed a hand over her racing heart and tried to calm down, taking deep breaths to help.

“Erm, you might want to look in the mirror. Looks like your feathers got a bit ruffled with my blunder.” Alex tried to contain his laugh and gave a snort while pointing at his friend´s bushy hair. “I´m sorry, but it looks like a flock of birds ran you over.” He barely managed to finish the sentence before bursting into laughter.

The girl ran her hands through her hair to feel the feathers that had sprouted due to the scare and looked in her full length mirror. White and chestnut feathers decorated her head, having taken after her mother´s harpy nature. Daughters took after mothers and sons after fathers after all.

Yeong-hui joined in the laughter and slowly smoothed out her colorful additions until they disappeared into the mass of auburn hair. “Just think if this happened in public that would make my day. I don´t think excusing this for a rash would fly.”

“Hehehe, fly.” The incubus laughed a bit more. “Now, back to the main topic. When we both go hunting I swear I´ll be prepared.” Alex assured the harpy while giving her a wide smile.

The humor quickly drained from Yeong-hui´s face, being replaced by concern. “You mean both of us plus someone else, right? Two on one may seem easy on paper but we can still fall flat on our faces without anyone else to help.”

“But that would mean either sharing a meal three or more ways or having to hunt more times to fill up all of us. All we´ve gotta do is have a good plan and stick to it, hunt once and we´re done for the night. You´re a year older than me, we´ll be fine.”

“Well count me out of that plan, I don´t wanna risk making a literal mess out of my first time.” Pausing for a few seconds she shook her head and took a seat on the chair by her desk. “Scratch that, wrong choice of words. Look, we either do it with three people or you can find yourself a new partner because I´m not about to do something that´s definitely gonna come back to bite me in the ass.”

With sigh the incubus gave up, he knew the look she was giving him, her father had one just like that after all. His friend was right, getting caught would look pretty bad on their first hunt. If the day they were supposed to show their worth went south it could mean a couple more months of waiting and training in whatever they had of their second forms. She was already willing to wait a year for that day and he´d be damned if she had to wait another because of his pride. If there was to be trouble because of said pride it would be on him, losing his best friend wouldn´t be worth all the eyeballs and hearts he craved. There would be future opportunities to show their abilities as a duo, no sense in letting that special day go to waste on a whim.

“Fine, but can it be Will? A kobold sure can pack a bite.” Alex´s pride hadn´t went away completely, if he was to concede it would be on his own terms. He´d learned that by watching his mother over the years, always making sure she didn´t go down empty handed.

“Can´t see why not, but remember we can´t leave any of the mess behind, that´s where you come in. I´m older than you but I´m willing to wait if it means a successful hunt.”

“We´ll only be able to do this in a few months after all, I´ll be ready by then. I don´t even have a decent pair of wings yet, let alone the creepy blood-absorbing tentacles mom does, and my feeding mouth is still hard to control, with that stupid tongue and the tiny tentacles.” Alex made squiggly motions with his fingers and Yeong-hui burst into laughter again, picturing her best friend getting tangled up in the black appendages.


	4. First hunt dilemas, cookies and lasagna

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With the arrival of Will suggestions are thrown and someone might be a little bit to anxious to taste blood sooner than later.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heads up, dialog heavy chapter. My pc had to be repaired hence why it took a while to get this on up.
> 
> New character up ahead:
> 
> Will "William" Vaughn Geis: Kobold, 12 years old

With a quick call placed William was invited at the last minute under a promise to look out for each other on their future hunts, plus a generous portion of lasagna for lunch. It took about 20 minutes for the kobold to show up at the door looking like an utter mess. The boy was leaning against the doorframe, t-shirt awkwardly sticking to his sweaty body, face redder than a ripe tomato but his face showed a radiant smile none the less.

“Don´t tell me you ran all the way over to my place.” Yeong-hui chuckled at the sight of the sweaty and out-of-breath boy as she stepped out of the way to let him into the house.

“You know it. I couldn´t wait for it.” The kobold was panting like there was no tomorrow, having run all the way over in the sun was evidently taking its toll. “Mostly the lasagna part.”

“Of course, I should´ve guessed it.”

Will took a few steps into the house only to collapse on his back but from what Yeong-hui could see it posed no problems. He seemed to be enjoying the coolness the tiles had to offer, slipping into a relaxed state and closing his eyes, looking like someone ready to fall asleep.

“Seriously? Come on, I´ll give you some water and a fresh shirt. You´re crazy for running in this heat, you know that?” The harpy gently nudged her friend´s legs to the side to be able to close the door and stop the midday heat from entering the house.

“Thanks.” Will was thanking for both the hospitality and the ´compliment´, there was no doubt about it. “Could you maybe…?” He extended his arms and made grabbing motions with his hands while giving his best attempt at puppy dog eyes.

The harpy sighed but grabbed the kobold´s extended arms none the less and dragged him to the bottom of the stairs where Alex was waiting to drag him up to her room. It wasn´t the first time this happened and sure as hell wouldn´t be the last but it made her smile every time, how the smartest kid around could lack common sense sometimes. 

“Heya, Will.” The black-haired boy took a sweaty arm around his neck, mimicking Yeong-hui´s actions, and helped lift his friend up.

“Hi, Alex. How´s it going?”

 

****

 

“You guys already got a strategy sketched out or were thinking of taking a page out of the playbook?” After getting a fresh t-shirt, curtesy of Yeong-hui´s closet, and a couple glasses of water, Will lay belly up on the bed and tried to get a glimpse into his friend´s future plans.

“How about we pull a ´lost child´? It´s pretty simple and rather easy to execute.” Alex offered with a shrug. As long as they got to eat and did it discreetly who cared how they did it.

Will made a face and rolled onto his stomach to reach across Yeong-hui´s lap to pot of cookies on the nightstand that she promptly extended to him. The cookie got a bite taken out of it and the boy slowly chewed along as he thought. 

“Isn't the lost child play overused?” He asked after swallowing. “I'm not saying I wanna come up with something totally new, but we need to prove we can think outside the box. After all, our parents are gonna be watching and this marks a turning point in our lives where we prove we can hunt as a group for now and at the beginning of adulthood by ourselves.” 

“Please stop with the philosophical talk, you sound just like your dad.” Alexander hated to point that out but somehow his mother´s disdain for Irving had rubbed off onto him. Reaching over he took a treat as well, waving it in the air as he continued. “Well there's the offset scream/crying to attract someone into an isolated spot. Of course we could end up with more than one potential victim or even a police call.” 

Looks of worry were exchanged between the three kids at the thought of getting law enforcement involved. While the police was a salvation to many humans to Myths it was a rather annoying interference when trying to get a decent meal. It used to be easier when the uniforms lacked personnel and equipment but as the times evolved so did their methods. A simple traffic camera or even a police dog could mean going to extremes such as changing continents so as to be sure the hunter was not found. The paranoia of being caught and have their whole race exposed was rampant to the extent a Myth would be willing to bend over backwards to avoid all sorts of repercussions.

“Since we´re not adults a lot of options are blocked for us when luring prey. How easy is it you can go into any bar and pick up someone like that?” Yeong-hui snapped her fingers and joined her friends on the pre-lunch cookie eating, helping herself to the tasty treats.

“It´s not that easy. My mom's got that down to an art form and she'll tell you it can take a lot to convince someone to come home with you. Going home with them seems easier but it can mean unfamiliar settings, just one nosy neighbor can mean no meal for a Myth.” Alex had heard about most of his mother´s ups and downs of catching her meals, from the happy mood that came with a full stomach to the flopping on the couch after another failed attempt that week. In the last case there was an overwhelming chance she´d come home drunk. 

“Homeless people and junkies are off the menu, that's something we can all agree on.” Yeong-hui and Alex both agreed with Will on that argument, nodding in understanding with matching grimaces, having either been told or overheard stories of experienced adults getting sick from unknown drugs. “I don't want it to be too easy or end up sick from either diseases or substances. Adults are the only ones with enough immune system development to stomach some of those riskier meals and even then only a few can deal with the full effects. Also no nightclub goers, this is not how I want to have my first experience with alcohol.”

Hunting as a child was proving to be exciting but also dangerous as the children recalled lessons taught by their parents. Foreign substances present in the chosen prey, from tobacco and alcohol to certain medication and drugs, could put them under with symptoms from vomiting to high fevers, especially when they were still so young. There were even urban legends of someone losing control over their form along with dulling of the senses for up to two weeks or even more in extreme cases.

“Since we all agree about targets to ignore how should we kill ´the one´? Horror movie like surprise attack from behind, their eyes go wide and fall dead, or we jump 'em, pin 'em down and their last breath doesn't even make it to a scream?” The cookies were forgotten as Yeong-hui excitedly went on about several possible scenarios, the grand majority resembling horror movie setups, each more brutal than the last and emphasizing the powerlessness of humans against their future monstrous physical prowess.

The boys shared a look and go on to have a wordless conversation on how their reasonable friend suddenly started to talk like a starved hunter. The task of breaking the bloodlust spell was pushed back and forth between the boys a few times before kobold caved in and broke the harpy´s rant.

“I don´t want to be a downer or anything but while this may be our first hunt aren´t you a bit… let´s say trigger happy.” Will sat up and eyed the harpy with a concerned expression, leaning discretely away from her, or at least his version of discreetly because she caught onto his worry.

With the wind taken from her wings Yeong-hui´s eyes widened as the realization of what she´d been doing dawned upon her. With a sigh she crossed her legs and leaned against the headboard, closing her eyes and taking deep slow breaths, letting the previous, more primal, feelings ebb away to the darker corners of her mind.  
“Maybe.” Her voice was back to its normal tone, all evidence of the previous outburst remaining only in the three children´s memories. “I know it´s still a few months away but I can´t help it. ´A myth only hunts to eat, never to satisfy bloodlust like a common criminal` etc, etc... I know the whole thing and you do too, but don´t you feel even a little desire to show your worth and how much you worked towards the moment?”

Alex though back at all the times his mother gave him advice. Her proud smiles as she imagined her son as a fully-fledged hunter somehow began to place unneeded pressure on his shoulders at some point and it was only now he´d realized it. “I don´t know. We´ve always been warned about the dangers of giving into your instincts in a moment of weakness, physical or emotional. A slip like this could be our undoing.” His mother seemed to put quite a lot of emphasis on distancing himself emotionally from any prey as well. Was it because of his father or was there something she hadn´t told him yet?

“We´ve got monstrous attributes along with instincts all in one package, sometimes it´s hard to separate the later ones from our own thoughts when we´re at this stage, especially you.” Will placed a comforting hand on Yeong-hui´s shoulder. “My mom warned me if I ever decided to wait. You´re gonna be a year late for your first hunt at almost fourteen, your parents do the hunting for now and your body wants to let out all that pent up frustration of being denied what it´s meant to do, hunt.” He gave her a reassuring smile before continuing. “You´re not the first to hold out your first hunt while suffering these drawbacks and we promise to hurry along so when we do it all together it won´t be so near the birthday deadline, right?” Turning to Alex he urged him to go along and agree. They´d do their best but ultimately it would be up to their parents to agree on a date.

“Will´s right, we stand by each other in times like this and we´ll be damned if something as run of the mill as this ruins our friendship. It´s just an extra incentive to keep working hard and make sure none of us go into bloodlust mode.”

Yeong-hui let a few tears fall down her face before quickly wiping them away. She pounced on both boys and dragged them into a one armed hug, smiling while more tears poured out again, but that time she wasn´t willing to let go to dry them. Alex and Will hugged their friend back and if one would have paid enough attention they might have seen a few stray tears on both their faces.

“You guys are great, right now I´m the luckiest girl in the-”

A knock on the door broke their conversation and the realization they were not alone dawned upon them. 

“Lunch is ready! The lasagna´s cooled down enough to eat but the cheese is still gooey!” Byung-ho called from the other side of the door, his promise of food too good to wait. So much for the heartwarming moment.

The subtle smell wafting in the air brought by the man is picked up on by the children, all previous sadness dwindling with the promise of a delicious lunch ahead of them. A filling meal after a bonding moment sounded very appetizing.

“Look, we could go on and on about this all day, let´s just agree to write some ideas up and discuss them some other time, I ran all the way over and I´m starved.”

“Sure thing. Thanks for putting my mind at ease, you guys do know what a gal needs to hear.”

“Alright! Onwards to some delicious lunch it is then! Does Polly want a cracker?”

“Oh shove it!”


	5. The fall from grace is filled with regrets

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Secrets are bound to come to the top, even if accompanied by a nice meal. It just goes to show we are all hypocrites.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for not publishing sooner, I had the most literally back breaking three weeks of my life and ended up in the hospital in pain and with a spine injury, writing while in pain does not work especially when you can´t sit.
> 
> I´d appreciate some comments on my fic, I´ve had this in my head since my early teens and it has evolved so much from just an OC to a whole cast with an actual plot I´m currently developing. Leave suggestions, comments or even an OC of your own you´d like to cameo in a scene or two I´m working on.

When the three children arrived downstairs the table was already set. A delicious-looking tray of lasagna, although with slightly crispy edges, sat there along with a pitcher of orange juice and a bowl of salad. On the kitchen counter sat the promised desert, the sugary smell wafting in the air.

“Alright! Dad´s cooking is the best!”

“Remind me to put aside a slice of the chocolate pizza for my mom, she´d nag me to death if I forget.”

“Good afternoon Mrs. Sun, Mr. Sang.”

Eun-ah and Byung-ho had already sat down and were shortly followed by the three kids bearing excited grins at the sight of the delectable food presented before them. Chairs scraped against the floor as they took a place at the table and didn´t even wait to be given permission to help themselves because in that house the motto was ´if you are hungry you eat´ and you´d be damned if you didn´t do it, especially if it was cheesy freshly made hot lasagna.

A jovial mood settled in, small talk went about, things like recent Myth activity and what they were thinking of doing during summer break came about along with the occasional gory joke here and there. Growing up knowing what their species did meant a certain level of desensitization to body horror, after all what Myth could hunt while having a weak stomach for ruthless killing? They were predators and humans were either prey or the occasional ´entertainment´, cases like Alexander´s parents were an oddity but if the human one did not interfere with their spouse´s hunts no harm done.

Chatter filled the room for most of the meal until a question managed to bring it all to a complete halt.

“How was your first hunt? All my mom ever told me is that you three were a group back then when I asked about it and refused to say anything else.” Asked Alex excitedly while pouring himself some more juice. “Did you go for clichés? Or did one of you have one of those moral dilemma types that almost screwed the whole thing up? According to her I don´t wanna know but come on, it can´t have been that bad.”

Will and Yeong-hui hurriedly joined Alex in prying for more information out of the harpy´s parents but the two adults fell into a silent state, looking down at their food and stealing glances from each other, it was like a conversation was being spoken only with their eyes.

“Oh yeah, mom you never told me and neither did you dad. Was it that bad? Did you have a fallout for a while during your group days? You told me that´s a tough situation to go through, you need to know the people you hunt with well .”

“About that…” Eun-ah placed her elbows on the table and rested her face on her hands with a worried expression, trying, and failing, to hide her discomfort with the subject at hand. She opened and closed her mouth several times, trying to find a way to either divert the conversation or explain what had really happened all those years ago in a more pleasant light. “You see… it was like this… back then we didn´t know what we do now… it wasn´t THAT bad… I mean…” For as hard as she tried Eun-ah couldn´t form a coherent sentence, all that came out were mere incoherent and loosely connected thoughts that ended as quickly as they began.

Byung-ho noticed his wife´s discomfort and placed a supportive hand on her back, making small circling motions with his thumb in an attempt to calm both her inner turmoil and his. Taking a deep breath along with comfort from her husband´s gesture, Eun-ah lifted up her head to look at three pairs of confused eyes.

“Go on, you should can tell them. I can do if you´re not up for it.” Byung-ho sighed and poked at his salad. “You can´t tell a kid not to want to know something, that´s like telling someone they can´t have the last piece of cake.”

“But what about Alanna? She´s just as part of this as both of us.”

“What for? You know she´ll just deny it to the kids. That woman can´t face her past, everyone knows it. No offense.”

“None taken. She´s always refused to tell me anything about it and I wanna know what´s so bad about it.” Alex motioned to Yeong-hui and Will. “We all do.”

“Pandora´s box is open so you might as well leave here knowing the truth, no matter how disgusting it is.” Eun-ah took a deep slow breath before continuing, preparing herself mentally as best as she could to reveal the truth to the children. “Back in the day we started out like you, normal kids eager to be able to hunt on our own. We had our first hunt without any problems and had a great dynamic, friends ´till the bitter end and all that.” Another deep breath was necessary before continuing. “But somewhere along the line we got caught up in the power we suddenly had over humans. We were what, sixteen?” She had to think about it for a few seconds, she´d let go of most of the bloody memories. “No, no, seventeen, that´s it. It lasted for some years before regret finally settled in.” A few tears escaped but she quickly took a napkin to dry them out, no point in getting overly emotional about something she couldn´t change.

The wraith wrapped his arms around his wife, her face burying onto his shoulder, ashamed to look Yeong-hui in the eyes. How would her little hatchling react when she found out her mother was a hypocrite, that all the advice on remaining in control and not letting the bloodlust win had been broken often in the past? The shame was unavoidable as tears started springing from Byung-ho´s eyes as well, creating twin trails down his cheeks. Taking over where Eun-ah left off he continued among pauses to stifle a sob and swallow the bile rising in his throat, their actions coming back to memory it was as if they´d feasted like a rabid pack of hyenas the day before.

“There wasn´t any hunt that went wrong, a few ads in the paper here and there didn´t stop us either, we just grew up and took a look at the blood trail we had left behind and at the bodies we carved through to get that rush of adrenaline, that feeling like gods ruling over ants. We fell from our self-made pedestals and landed face-first into reality. We knew we were the monsters that went bump in the night but we never dreamed of the day we´d be scared of ourselves, that our friends wouldn´t cross our paths as if to avoid catching a viral disease.”

By the time Byung-ho finished the food was more than forgotten, cutlery left untouched when the truth started to dawn upon the kids. They´d known what would have to be done in order to survive having been groomed to be at least indifferent to the lives they´d have to take in order to stay alive, but knowing the most important lessons they had been constantly reminded of had been broken by their parents, in Yeong-hui´s and Alex´s cases, or good family friends, concerning Will, was too much to properly take in all at once.

“You´re telling me you lot were…” William trailed off slowly, almost a whisper, but in the silent atmosphere it was well heard, the unsaid taking a clear meaning.

“Unfortunately yes,” Byung-ho took upon himself to continue, despite being uncomfortable with what was being laid out to the children. “not that we are proud of it to this day. We were thrill crazed blood seekers from that point to our early young adult years. We like to think our parents didn´t know but looking back I can’t be sure.”

A choked laugh came from the harpy. As time moved forward her disassociation with the events became stronger, what once had been overwhelming guilt had dwindled down to merely a mistake of the past, a little speck of regret for her actions. Eun-ah´s throbbing heart had shifted, the regret for the human lives carelessly taken completely gone to be replaced with worry for the way her daughter would look at her. Raising her head to look her husband in the eyes her next words were spoken with a mix of remorse and embarrassment. 

“Honey… I, erm… I never told you but I overheard my parents taking once and from what I could gather all them caught wind of it at the end. That´s why no talks ever came up, we all just buried the truth because we didn´t want to happened to Alana and her mom to happen to us too.” The revelation had caught Byung-ho off-guard. His parents had went away without ever knowing how sorry their son was for his actions, they´d departed thinking they´d done a terrible job of raising him. “Must have broken their hearts to see their children slowly turn into monsters on the inside when it was only the outside supposed to change.” Turning to face the young ones with a pained smile and bloodshot eyes Eun-ah tried her best to convey her sincerity. “We´re sorry. You don´t have to and shouldn´t accept our apology, after all we taught you about not giving in to primal needs we ended up hypocrites that didn´t want to face the past.”

A chair was knocked down to the floor from the brute force its occupant got up with. “You! You lied to me!” Yeong-hui couldn´t tell what emotion reigned over her. Rage, disappointment, sadness, to her they were all one the same at the moment. “You told me to ignore this feeling burning inside me, that it would magically go away when I got to hunt by myself! I don´t want to feel like this for the rest of my life, I don´t!” The girl ran out in a panic, certain that if she were to remain in the same room as her parents she´d do something they´d all regret.

“Wait!” Alex followed after his friend in a heartbeat. He´d know his mom´s life hadn´t been a sea of roses but he knew that woman enough to know was she was capable of and would be lying if he said he wasn´t surprised.

Having been left alone, Will felt all degrees of uncomfortable. It hadn´t been his parents to break the hunt´s rules but when he looked back at Byung-ho and Eun-ah he could tell something had changed. He got up, tidied his chair and walked away calmly, not knowing what to say in a situation like that. Best keep your mouth shut if you don´t have anything nice to say or however the saying went.

The two adults were left alone, unable to face each other, their gazes averted to opposite sides of the room. It was left unclear whether they truly despised the adults for what they had done or would come around sometime later after processing all the information. Either way, the aftermath would not be without more tears and regrets.

“Did we do the right thing?”

“I don´t know.”


	6. The hunt is on

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is where I try to explore the darkest part of my writing style. Boy, do I love to write bloodthirsty kids.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Be warned, more heavy-dialogue stuff up ahead.

After the lunchtime revelation the children locked themselves inside Yeong-hui´s room. Neither Byung-ho nor Eun-ah tried to make any sort of contact, worried that any further attempt at explanations could result in worsening the situation. Dealing with children was different than dealing with adults, there were no previous experiences to compare, not to mention they´d essentially betrayed their daughter´s trust by lying by omission.

Hours had ebbed away into the afternoon and soon it was twilight, the cheerful chirping of birds fading into the quietness that was occasionally broken by the odd car or neighbor dog barking. The calm atmosphere outside contrasted with the tension-filled one inside the bedroom occupied by the three friends. None had said a word for hours, opting to keep quiet in a half-asleep state, wandering aimlessly in their minds with no certain direction.

After what they´d learned Alexander had rushed to empty the contents of his stomach in the nearest bathroom, joining Yeong-hui afterwards in lying down on her bed apathetically, she stared at the ceiling with a blank expression while he curled up in a fetal position with an equally empty expression taking form and refusing to disappear throughout the hours.

“That´s it, I can´t take this any longer.” Will got up from his place on the carpet and faced the other two lying on the bed, keeping the volume to a low. The suffocating quietness had begun to trouble him but still the kobold held his tongue to the breaking point, the concern had filled his heart to the overfilling point. “I can already tell the answer but I need know, are both of you ok?”

The picture the two painted was not good, far from it, whatever the opposite of good times a million was it was precisely that. The sensations felt like some kind of parasite crawling inside his brain, sending chills down to his bare core. It hadn´t been his parent´s past actions on the line ergo the new pieces of information didn´t affect him directly, but those two… Self-control was the most valuable skill any Myth could have, practically put on a pedestal and revered as the golden rule to follow. One who did not possess it could be shunned from any community for fear of exposure, losing all support from everyone around them, becoming essentially alone and shoved into the world with whatever they owned and maybe some help from their friends and family before turning away.

"Please, say something, I´m begging you." William sat on the floor, leaned against the bed, eyes closed and a grimace upon his face. These were his friends, he couldn´t leave them alone, and who´d know what they´d end up doing.

“´Something, I´m begging you.´ Now shut up, I´m having an internal rage monologue.” Alexander answered in a monotone voice with a hint of an underlying crack. “You know, I feel like the biggest idiot on the face of the earth. I knew my mom was far, and I mean FAR, from perfect. She´s got an alcohol problem, emotional troubles that could fill a list from here to China and thinks sex with random strangers will help her forget about dad, but I always thought ´hey, it could be worse´. Turns out I was wrong.” The boy let out a choked laugh and pressed the heels of his hand over his eyes. “My mother taught me control over what I am was the most important thing to strive for, that it was what separated us from mindless beasts, and now I learned she´s a friggin´ hypocrite on top of everything else.”

The incubus was down for the count. A heart-wrenching theory had bloomed in his mind. The thought that his loving mother had been akin to a bloodthirsty beast who could have very well ended up killing his father in one of her younger brutish hunting moments. It hurt so much someone might as well had punched him in the gut and killed his hypothetical pet. Could it be the reason he had no dad be because she´d treated him like any other human? It had never seemed to fit her profile but without the self-control the chances of it being true had shot up.

“Yeong-hui?” His voice almost failed him when Will resorted to the harpy, hoping she´d be in a more lucid state.

“I want to go berserk.” Her voice held a dull tone before some sadness and disbelief mixed in. “I´ve loathed myself ever since I started getting these feelings and from what I knew they were wrong and I should have better control over them. I was a liability to everyone. I wanted to show I could be responsible and hold them in just like everyone else and make mom and dad proud. Turns out practice what you preach has been dead for a long time and all I can think of right now is how hungry I am.” What was a kobold to do? He was just a kid. THEY were just kids. While trying to come up with something to attempt to revert his friend´s emotional states Yeong-hui spoke again, this time a hint of enthusiasm in her voice. Or was it psychosis he detected? “Does anyone else want to go out and have our first hunt right now? I´d really like to go for a bite right now.” Getting up from the bed with a widening grin the harpy walked over to the window and opened it, letting the cooling air flow inside the bedroom.

They could leave without anyone knowing knowing, leave through the window and into the surrounding forest. Using the cover the night provided would make it easy to disappear without tracks and get that sweet relief her body was screaming for. Her instincts demanded for fresh blood, not the flesh her parents brought her from Ullrich´s funerary in sealed plastic bags.

Caught in the moment Alexander jumped off the bed, nearly trampling William who´d moved right on time, excitement taking over and mixing in with the anger to create a dangerous cocktail of impulsiveness. “Yes! Yes, that’s it! Let´s show our parents we can hunt and not become mindless beasts like them! They wanted us to be better than them so let´s show them we are better!” Alex yelled in a whispered tone, if such a thing was possible. Warning the adult couple about their spur-of-the-moment plans would not be wise, even in his altered state of mind he was aware of that piece of simple logic.

“That´s a great idea!” Yeong-hui turned back to the boys and her widening smile already showing sharpening teeth.

“That´s a terrible idea! Listen to yourselves.” NO, NO, NO! Things were bound to go wrong if he let them keep the train of thought, stepping on a Lego wrong! Will was feeling something akin to trying to disarm a bomb with a Cantonese manual of instructions while dodging a hail of bullets. “Alex, you have little control over your original form so far and you” The kobold turned to the harpy. “are a ticking time bomb who, at the sight of blood or even of our prey, can go on a rampage.” It was hard to keep his voice down while lecturing his friends on how bad of an idea it was.

The two ravage-prone children looked at each other, then at their friend and finally at the darkening forest outside the window. 

“Let´s go?” A smile returned to the girl´s face.

“Please, don´t do this.” ´Please, oh no please…´ William was praying to whatever deity may have existed his friends didn´t do something they´d end up regretting.

“Yep.” Alex put a hand on the kobold´s shoulder and smiled. “Will, whether you come with us or go home we´re gonna do this. Your choice.”

“Yeong-hui, Alex, you´re both smart Myths, can we please not do this? Let´s talk this through like sensible people.” His last-ditch effort was appealing to his friend´s rapidly vanishing reasoning skills, he was clinging onto hope stretched as thin as a spider´s thread.

“Alright, we´ll see you later.” The final nail in the proverbial coffin was hammered in, there was nothing else to change their minds with.

“Wait!” May his parents be able to forgive him for what he was about to do. “I´ll go with you, someone has to make sure this doesn´t snowball into a giant mess.”

Trying to talk sense into those two would do nothing at that point, a brick wall would´ve had a better reaction. People did crazy things in states of mind like theirs and by the love of whatever deity that may have existed William hoped their little excursion would be smooth sailing.

“I knew we could count on you.” How weird was it that Alex was hugging him and patting his back? He´d just agreed to participate in a badly thought out plan that if uncovered would have serious repercussions on not just them but their parents as well. Could he live with the fact he was about to break his parent´s trust?

“Let´s go then, just stick the landing and you´ll be fine, I´ve jumped out my window before. Don´t ask why. You see the tree?” She pointed at the big one with sturdy branches stretching towards them. “When we come back all we have to do is climb it and jump back in.” With that Yeong-hui sat on the windowsill and jumped safely to the ground with a crouched landing. Turning her head she made motions for the boys to do the same. 

Alex made Will go next because it would not do for the kobold to remain behind when he´d agreed to go as well. When all three were down below they headed towards the forest, disappearing into the darkness. The hunt was about to start.

Funny thing the universe could be, loving to screw you five ways from Sunday and leave you wondering what the ever-loving hell happened. No one had realized yet the actions of that night would be more than a snowball, two rivers were about to merge and overflow a dam built long ago.

When everything was over it would result in more than a train wreck. It was going to be a massacre.


	7. Spiders are sexy (and skeletons too)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Who doesn´t love a drink every now and then? There´s a bar owned by 3 siblings, although only two work there. They´ll take your money and give you alcohol and nothing else, it was a bar, not an AA meeting.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Two chapter in one day? Why yes, it´s called a caffeine rush.
> 
> New characters ahead:
> 
> Johan Heisler: Simargl , 42 years old  
> Olga Katrina: Arachne (jumping spider subspecies), 44 years old  
> Koschei Heisler: Koschei "The Deathless", 97 years old (This OC was gladly provided to me by solnishka1927 on tumblr)

The businessman contemplated his drink, swirling the liquor with apathy, and once more looked expectantly at the bartender who had poured the third dose just seconds ago. The desperate attempt at gaining sympathy earned him a tired sigh from the man, he wasn´t paid enough for counseling and advising desperate people. Despite owning the bar, or at least two thirds of it, he´d never liked the part of the day when people would go in just to drown their sorrows, even if it earned him quite a bit of money. It was time to, once again, break what was left of the spirit of that poor soul.

“I´m no psychologist so let me tell you what I say to anyone who thinks I am.” Johan put his hand on the counter and leaned over the tipsy man, doing his best not to scowl at a custumer. “Wait for happy hour, there´s a 90% chance one will show up. Buy ´em a scotch or whatever their favorite drink may be and you´re set. I´m a bartender, I serve alcohol, not advice.”

“Try the woman in the table over by the vintage pinup poster, she´s a good one, and by that I mean a good psychologist.” Someone had taken the cue and settled in the chair right beside the businessman.

Both men looked at the woman who’d interrupted the one-sided conversation. Red hair in a mermaid braid, her the naturally sultry look made the bronze eyes pop along with pouty lips and the short frame of 1.60m( the platform heels didn´t count) with a thick hourglass body shape made her easy to remember. Being a regular also helped. And the fiancé of the bartender´s adopted brother.

“Go on, didn´t you want a psychologist drinking buddy?” Her authoritative voice woke the poor soul from his trance and with a snap of her fingers he was off to the table with a bit of a wobble in his step, unconsciously knowing he was not supposed to look back lest he face repercussions.

“Olga Katrina, just the woman I wanted to talk to.”

“Johan Heisler, just the guy I wanted to serve me a margarita. And don´t skimp on the agave.” The woman folded one arm beneath her ample cleavage and rested her face on the one that had the elbow on the table. 

“I wouldn´t dare to.” The arachne had showed up ten minutes early as usual, addiction to alcohol went hand in hand with being a Myth for many, not that he´d ever complained. Johan turned around and to make the order. “I need to tell you my brother is running a bit late, he says he´s sorry and will try to make it up to you.”

“He wouldn´t be Koschei if he wasn´t fashionably late for our weekly date.” Watching her drink being made got her thirstier by the second and having it set in front of her was a blessing. “Keep the change, I´m feeling generous.” Olga accepted the drink and put a large bill on the table.

“You´re gonna be my sister-in-law in a few months and still tip me generously, keep it up and I´ll give you all the privacy you want later. I got no idea how he snagged you, or you him for that matter.” Johan smirked and gave the red-head a wink before putting on more of a serious tone. “Moreover, stay away from the kitchen table, couch or whatever common surface it may be if you do end up here tonight. When he´s fully moved in with you go right ahead under your own roof, I do not want to have to look with distrust at any surface inside my own apartment again.” 

“As if you don´t already, listening to us doing the horizontal tango must not the best way for you to spend the night.” Olga giggled and takes another sip of her drink, adding a wink for effect. “No worries, he´ll be staying with me this week, we´re both grading papers. I´ve dated your brother for quite some time now and I still don´t understand why you two insist on living together. I never asked because I figured it´s something private.”

“Pfft, yeah right. Call it brotherly love or whatever cutesy crap you want but at the end of the day we´re both reluctant to part with a substantial amount of money every month.”

“So you live together to pay less rent money.”

“Bullseye.”

“Well now that the mystery´s solved all I´m missing is Koschei so we can go to dinner.”

“Along with more ´stimulating´ activities later, I hope.” A hoarse voice cut into the conversation before its owner put an emaciated hand on Olga´s shoulder.

Johan´s adopted brother was an overly tall, nearing 2.20m, sickly looking man due to being extremely thin and deathly pale, despite his pastime being gorging on junk food. Sunken cheeks and prominent eye bags rimmed watery green eyes and ribs that you could, theoretically, play xylophone on, gave him a terminally ill look despite being in very good health.

Koschei was, as his name implied, a Koschei ´The Deathless´ Myth. No, his soul wasn’t inside a needle, which was in an egg, which was in a duck, which was in a hare, which was in an iron chest, which was buried under an oak tree on the island of Buyan. An overly complicated and absurd legend created long ago, either by humans, to justify the difficulty of besting one in combat, or the species itself in order to deter attempts on their lives. These types of folklore tended to be lost in time, who invented what about what type of Myth had never been prioritized information to document.

This deathless was known to be a rather vain man. His outward appearance of a revived mummy was an attractive feature in his books, adorned with multiple silver earrings, from a scythe shaped ear cuff to upper lobe piercings to chain earrings, and the hair beads and rings that always made their presence known in his pale hair made him feel beautiful, like an ethereal being whom was being fought over by life and death.

"Lookie here, someone finally decided to show up and I’m still on my first drink, usually you show up between three and five. In a hurry then?" Olga turned around

“For someone like you, my treasure, I have to look my best.” His tallness to her shortness made him bend a good deal, even with Olga sitting on the high barstool, but it paid off so the deathless could take hold of his fiancé’s hand to bring it forth for a kiss. She was gently pulled forward and pale bony fingers lightly pushed her neck up, leaving it exposed, to place a bolder kiss before being slowly pushed away by his lover´s hand.

“Later, in my bedroom, maybe couch if we don’t make it that far.”

“You´re right, my treasure, I´d hate for your beauty to be revealed to others than myself. Merely thinking about it makes me want to take you away right now and-” The same hand is placed over his mouth to stop the oncoming speech on how her beauty is unmatched and her mind of the highest caliber.

“As I said, later. We have reservations and I know you love this particular restaurant. Control your possessiveness and I´ll do the same for my libido, we can use them later.”

 

The deathless placed a caring kiss on Olga´s lips before turning her barstool around to face his brother and placing his arms around her neck in a loose embrace. “Where´s Sinai? Not that you´re not pleasant to the eye but I can´t leave without so much a hello to my dear sister.”

“It´s date night, what do you reckon?” Johan reached under the bar to take out a full shot glass and placed it in front of Koschei. “Do me a favor and try this.”

“Who did she go out with? Nalani?” He picked up the glass with his thumb and index finger and brought it close to his face. It wasn´t unusual for his brother to try creating new drinks but unfortunately his sense of taste wasn´t on the same level as a client´s and as a result he always needed outside input before adding anything on the menu. Sinai had long ago refused to partake of said drinks and so did everyone else, leaving Koschei, who had a soft spot for his siblings, to endure alone. 

“No, they decided for now it's best they remain just friends. With benefits or not I don´t know. She met a human yesterday, let´s just hope it´s just a fling. Now, bottoms up, dear brother.” Why was his smile so sinister? If one didn´t know him any better it would seem he wanted his concoction to fail the test.

It took some deep breaths to gather the courage to down the shot and the glass was slammed against the table with more force than necessary. “Holy hell! Did you make this with gasoline?!” His voice came out raspier than normal and tears adorned the corner of his eyes.

“Just a little bit.” Two sets of eyes stared wide in alarm at the simargl who was quick to put their minds at ease between laughs. “Just kidding! I was trying for something with a punch at the beginning but a smooth aftertaste, clearly I got the last part wrong.”

“Clearly.” Koschei´s voice held no amusement but it would not be something he´d be mad at Johan for. Diverting his gaze down he gently nudged Olga´s chin up so he could look her in those seductive bronze orbs. “Now, shall we? I believe dinner awaits.” Taking Olga´s hand he pulled her up carefully. “See you tomorrow, brother dearest.”

Olga winked and waved at the bartender. “Later, wolf boy.” She said with a chuckle.

The lovers walked out of the bar hand in hand, eager to spend some time alone. The arachne undid the hold to place her arm around the man´s waist and he pulled her closer with a one armed hug around her shoulders.

Johan watched them walk away with a smile reaching all the way up to his eyes and shook his head. Who´d have thought the description of a walking voodoo doll would end up with a thick bombshell of a jumping spider. His brother was a scholar by nature, books and puzzles were his calling and it had been no surprise when he ended up with a university teaching job as a Biology professor, passing his knowledge to the next generations, even if human ones. Not many friends had graced him over the years, ´better to have few close friends than a million of stones in your step´ as Koschei had put it, but Olga had stepped into the scene a few years ago and boy he´d been hooked. Beauty and brains, the storybook weakness of any deathless had proven itself true in that case.

Now Olga, Johan though, she was an open book to those who got to know her personally. That woman loved to drink as much as Koschei loved to eat, her body size helping to slow down the effects of alcohol, but if given anything with caffeine one would think she´d have left a frat house party. Intoxication through caffeine was a trait around sixty to seventy percent of arachne Myths seemed to possess, much reminiscent of their animal counterparts. That would make it look like the jumping spider was the manic pixie dream girl of Koschei but no, her libidinous cheeky side was not all there was to her, there was also a shared passion for literature and wordplay between the two lovers.

A chubbier downsized Jessica Rabbit lookalike and a zombie/voodoo doll hybrid, Johan knew there would be no lack of fun as long these two stuck around.


	8. A bloody mess

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The children finally get what they want and go all out to make it memorable, such a shame their cleaning skills aren´t on par with their hunting ones.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it took me so long to post but finding an antagonist is harder than it looks. If you feel like it check out my sketch for them, again, not an artist at my core.
> 
> http://demonesskneesocks.tumblr.com/post/165550631478/finally-found-my-antagonist-got-inspired-by-the

Dark woods just after twilight, no one to hear for miles and a lone jogger going for an after work run. A cliché horror movie opening scenario come alive but the best option in such a short notice.

Three pairs of eyes stalked their prey until one pounced, pinning them on their back. A flurry of chestnut and white feathers sprouted from auburn hair and a pair of clawed hands covered the human´s mouth, drawing rivulets of blood from the excessive pressure. Her legs were already those of a harpy too, talons sharp and eager to take hold of a delicious morsel.

William took advantage of his kobold strength to hold down down the legs with scale adorned arms, tufts of fur slowly sprouting at the wrists. When we got older there would be snout too, a second bone layer on the outside with a likening of a lion´s mane at his neck. Some remnants of guilt still persisted in his mind but the bloodlust slowly pushed them further back, a hunter that showed remorse was a starved hunter.

Alex used his chance to open his feeding mouth, tongue crawling from under his loose t-shirt, and was surprised how easily he controlled the appendage to restrain the prey´s arms above their head. The boy did his best to keep focus the slimy appendage, one slip of focus and the arms could detach with brute force or even be pulled inside and cut guillotine style.

The prey squirmed with more strength than expected and tried to scream as well through the talons clawing at its face. A fighter had chewier meat, but they couldn’t afford to be picky and leave a hunt half-finished weather their target was dead or alive.

“It´s nothing personal, so try to relax, this´ll be over sooner if you stand still.” Yeong-hui steadied herself and began to apply more pressure, recalling a move her father had taught her at an earlier age. The next step took swiftness and skill, with a deft movement the neck was snapped to the side and the man gave a loud muffled yell. “Damnit!” He was still alive, very likely in a lot of pain but still among the living.

“Try again!” Alexander encouraged her, taking the head in his hands to move it back into initial position. “You can do it!”

“Quick! My arms are getting tired, this one´s a kicker!” It was getting harder to hold down the man´s legs, even with enhanced strength he was still a young boy holding down an adult human male´s legs.

With a deep breath to steady herself Yeong-hui put on a determined face and the next moment a snapping sound was heard. When the human´s neck gave a sickening crack and turned at an awkward angle followed by the stillness of said human the deed was done.

The three children let go, standing up to look at the preserved look of despair in the eyes of their prey. Did they have a family or friends? Were they a good kind-hearted person? Questions like those were meaningless after death and the one that mattered during life was if someone would miss them. A prey´s feelings weren´t accountable for anything, they were food and nothing more when out hunting. Getting one´s feelings caught up in the mix could give quite a lot of trouble, not eating meant starvation or even a bout of madness and hunger after long enough had passed.

Then there were matters unresolved that need tending to before they can feast. Who got to eat the best parts?

“I want the eyes.” Yeong-hui smiled, pointing at the head in glee.

“Hey, I want the eyes too. Give me one and I´ll give you half the brain.” Alex was quick to defend his claim to the small organs. Eyeballs were a rare treat, only two in each body.

“No deal, I don´t like grey matter that much. Keep the rest of the head, eyeballs are mine.”

"Fine, but when we do this another time I want at least one."

“If we´re calling dibs I get the heart. Also some of the blood, I´m a bit thirsty.” Said Will awkwardly while lifting up his hand, trying to get a word in before those two went at it.

With the desired body parts claimed it was time to begin preparing the body. The blood would need to be drained to avoid a mess all over themselves and the ground, even if the dirt were to absorb some of it. Yeong-hui and Will bit each side of the neck, taking care to hit the arteries, and started draining away the blood, but unfortunately were not prepared for the release of pressure and ended up chocking, letting go to cough and a bloody mess begins spilling underneath the corpse.

In a panic Alexander leaned closer, trying to use his tongue a tourniquet but only ended up wrapping it around their victim´s neck, tentacles making their first appearance to go along. In a flash the head was no more, sharp fangs chomping on the neck, separating both with a splatter of blood over the startled Myths.

“My eyes!” With a distraught cry the harpy watched her coveted prizes become no more. Looking Alex in the eyes (Her eyes! She´d wanted them so badly!) her expression then became feral. She did the unthinkable. “You can eat the guts, me and Will get the torso muscles.” Her frown gives way to a smug look.

“What! You can´t do that. If this poor sap ate something bad I can end up sick from the internal organs!” Puking up guts for a week was not pleasant, he´d heard the horror stories firsthand and witnessed his mother succumb to some a few times. “Will?” The kobold was his only hope for sharing the insides. He´d gotten the eyes but in doing so bought himself a one way ticket to gut city.

“Tough luck. Sorry man, I can get the respiratory tract but not much else. You got the guts.”

“Har har, really funny. Fine I stick with the guts. Let´s carve this sucker up and eat, I need my dinner.”

“I can do it, already got some practice with carving with my talons, unless you care to try your tail.” 

“I already told you it takes a while to grow, I can´t just pop it out. Maybe in a year or so.”

“Don´t tell me you didn´t notice?! You´ve got your tail.” Will pointed to a lazily swaying small spear tipped tail attached to his friend´s behind.

“Really?!” The succubus could not contain the adrenalin rush and turned around. “How do I look?”

“Aww, look at those cute wings.” Coos the harpy with a dribbling mouthful of flesh, a Y incision already made to give her access to the ribs. It was true, in addition to the tail there were also small bat-like wings on the incubus´ back, not even big enough to lift him up.

“Hey, wait for us!”

“Aww, I wanted to get the first cut.”

It was all laughs and feasting from that moment on. The corpse was slowly carved up, almost like a demented autopsy. Any semblance of self-control got lost to the night, blood dripping onto a coagulating puddle, limbs slowly carved up and divided between the children. They didn´t notice how messily they were working, getting more and more covered in the coppery red substance. Pieces flew about, Yeong-hui tossing the liver into Alex´s feeding mouth and proudly proclaiming a goal while the kobold boy happily teared into the heart, only noticing later he´d developed a fur-tipped lizard tail that was wagging happily.

Everything devolved into fun and giggles up to the last part of any (successful) hunt. Looking down on the disarray of bodily insides gave a gut-wrenching feeling to the children, they had no idea how to clean up something of that caliber.

“We gotta clean up this mess, any suggestions?” Asked the harpy, picking flecks of dried blood from her feathers. “I think it´s your department, Alex.”

“I told you this afternoon I only have my tongue, I still can´t sprout tentacles to clean up this. I am not licking the floor, the feeding mouth is for food, not cleanup.” With a disgusted expression the succubus took in the mess they´d made.

Will stopped gnawing on a femur and scratched at his head. “Yeah…we need to fix this or we are so screwed.”

“You already are.”

Oh boy… That chilling voice could only belong to a certain someone. Turning their heads the children confirmed the thought they feared the most. A tall rake-thin form was leaning against a tree, the look in his eyes usually had a chilling effect but the man was angry that time, he could drive a person to madness with just the stare alone.

“Koschei…” A whisper so light it was hard to tell who´d uttered the name.

“That´s right and you lot are in a pot of trouble. From my knowledge there are no underage hunts scheduled for any time soon and yet here I find three children recovering from a feasting frenzy with a mangled corpse.” He paused to take in better what he was presented with. “Or what´s left of it. You did go all out on it didn´t you?”

There was no argument there, it was not a pretty sight. Taking a proper look all the kids could see was a mess made out of whoever it was they killed. A pool of blood the size of the body was clear as day, scattered about were the clothed made in rags, several entrails and muscle tissue bits, even a finger, albeit also covered in blood. Before anyone could try and come up with a somewhat reasonable explanation the deathless cut the opportunity short.

“Save your words. Go home, I´ll take care of this mess. Do not breathe a word to anyone, tomorrow I´ll have a word with your parents first thing in the morning.”

“But-“ Alexander was cut off.

“Go.” Commanded Koschei while containing a scream and a few choice words in three different languages. “And for the love of whatever´s left of my patience reel in your true forms!”

Exchanging looks of guilt the kids obeyed with initial hesitation before an arm forcefully extended forward with a finger pointing towards the harpy´s house and they all but ran, retreating into the woods with gradually more human-looking bodies.

Watching them scurry away the deathless could not contain himself anymore. “Putain d'enfants. Fucking stupid morons. Neophytes. Fick mein leben.”

Taking in a deep breath and letting out a mix between a frustrated moan and a sigh Koschei reverts to his true form, relishing on the feeling of freedom from his human body. There he was, a deathless of his caliber solving the mess three frenzy-induced kids had left behind instead of on the arms of his beloved spider on their way to spend the rest of their night indulging each other. Those three were lucky he could feel nearby death and Olga´s place wasn´t that far away. Oh yes, another thing, killing near the edge of the forest for a random person to stumble into. He needed to take care of the remains quickly.

Bending down, a dip of his sharp nails through the edge of the bloody puddle was all Koschei needed to do. The poison took a few seconds before making its presence known. What had once been red started to turn a sickly green hue, slowly rotting away into the forest ground. His skill was fast acting when it came to killing prey from the inside, but diluted enough throughout the body to be safe to any adult Myth, making sharing the meal harmless.

“Damnit, Olga´s waiting.” It would take a good fifteen minutes before the last remains dissolved out of existence and Koschei didn´t have that type of patience at the moment. Licking his fingers clean he had to admit at least the prey had been a good one, too bad it ended wasted on dimwitted children, and after that though another one came rushing. “Oh great, now I´m also the bearer of bad news. Sheisse.” He knew their parents, what they had done in the past was too similar. Karma was not on his side that day, it would be better he returned to his human disguise and called Olga, he should’ve been close enough to the forest edge to get reception.

A noise brought him from the self-pity introspection and the Myth prepared to add another notch to the kill count. Turning around, fully prepared to deliver a deadly blow, the tension dropped when Koschei realized that one wasn´t human either. From deeper in the forest a wererabbit walked towards him, fully transformed and with a ravenous look to them. Ribs were seen where they should´ve not, it was easy to see that one hadn´t fed in a while. Just his luck, it looked like every hungry Myth was falling on his lap that night.

“If you´re here about the food tough luck, whatever´s left is just shy of being too decomposed to eat. I´m kind of in a hurry, would you mind keeping watch?” Koschei gestured towards the decomposing mass. “I know you´re hungry but at the moment I can´t help you hunt, try someone else. You really should get some food into you, you know, before you go a bit mad.” 

Figuring it would be best to go back before Olga got worried Koschei turned to leave but a somewhat distorted voice stopped his attempt at returning to human form.

“You´re not going anywhere.” Menacing teeth were bared and the red eyes had a glazed over look with a layer of growing insanity.

Oh joy, the night was about to turn into a bigger mess. The deathless faced the wererabbit and prepared himself for the worst. He was about to experience first-hand how crazy a hungry Myth could get.


	9. Deathless, but not immortal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Morality is relative, some strive to better the world while others strive to better themselves. When the first scenario is taken to the edge blood is bound to spill, be it innocent or not.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so sorry for taking so long to finish this but I had a writer´s block that would not go away.

Koschei had learned a lot in the 57 years he´d been walking the earth but talking down a ravenous maniac from killing you unfortunately hadn’t been a skill he picked up during that time.

“Look, let´s calm down and I´ll help you get some food.” Wrong words, the insanity in the crimson eyes staring at him came forward in full force.

“NO! I´m sick and tired of this charade.” The voice came out distorted at the scream, making Koschei take a step back in surprise. “We´re killing people, taking away their lives just to fulfill the selfish desires of our ancestors! I can´t take it anymore, humans are not mindless animals for us to use as we please, they´re living creatures with families and emotions, who made us executioner without judge or jury?!” The Myth stomped on the ground with their powerful legs and grabbed their head, claws unintentionally piercing flesh, drawing streams of blood, adding to the already disturbing image.

An extreme human sympathizer, Koschei realized, it would be hard to reason with that type. Hopefully he´d be able to distract that psycho long enough for Olga to come looking for him and ask for backup, but until then he´d have to avoid being on the wrong end of those deadly claws.

“Please, answer me honestly, when was the last time you ate? There´s no wererabbits here so I know you haven´t gotten anything from my shop. ” He needed to know what type of hunger the poor sap was dealing with, it could be two weeks at best or five to six at worse, if somehow they had managed to go that long without food and still have that much energy left.

“Didn´t you hear me?! I can´t do this anymore, I refuse to partake in this ongoing massacre any longer… And if I have to go down I´LL TAKE EVERY MYTH WITH ME!” Reasoning was pushed off the table when the wererabbit lunged at Koschei, using their powerful legs to thrust forward and lunge at the deathless, claws poised for a deadly strike.

Even while suffering in hunger the attack was not lacking in power and Koschei managed to throw himself out of the way on time, landing with a roll and quickly got back up, not willing to take a chance, he could only attack at close range and while the attacker had their back turned it would not be a good idea just yet. Although his enemy was clearly not in their best state of mind it would be hard to get close without getting severely injured before making a plan, deathless Myths were built for quick strikes with poison-delivering claws but their bodies were vulnerable to physical attacks, especially if said attacks came from someone with a powerful set of muscles.

The wererabbit stayed in the same crouched position it landed in, back turned, and Koschei took advantage to put more distance between them. Quick panting breaths highlight the protruding ribs and strained muscles beneath the fur, a disgusting sight to behold, yet coupled with the shattered mental state it was almost like watching an accident, one could not look away in morbid curiosity. The deathless could almost feel pity at such a sorrowful display but it would just go to waste.

“Listen to yourself, do you really think the solution is committing genocide against a whole species?” He needed to try again, going for a softer tone reserved for intimate moments but his life was on the line, he needed to reach deep in his bag of tricks. If he could talk himself out of that situation and avoid extensive physical damage to both it would be the luckiest day of his life. “We´re predators by nature, just like lions or birds of prey, we need to survive, to our families are the same. What about all of the myth children out there, are you willing to kill innocents in a bout of mental instability?”

Breaking into a disturbingly haunting laughing fit, the wererabbit´s spine arched into an almost impossibly painful position, ribs that should be snapping at the sudden movement only become more evident.

“CHILDREN! HAHAHAHA, WHAT CHILDREN ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?! I SAW THOSE SO CALLED ´INNOCENTS´ EAT TORN HUMAN REMAINS WITHOUT A SHRED OF REMORSE.” Turning to face Koschei they continued between panting breaths. “We´re all monsters that deserve to be wiped out, parasites living off innocent humans, you don´t have the right to play the oppressed victim card. None of us deserve this life tainted with blood of innocents, we all should just DIE!” With that last word echoing deep in their brain an idea is born, a deranged clarity forming, coming to life. “You know what? I´ll start with you.”

“Please don´t-!” The deathless had to dodge again, caught by surprise at his enemy´s sudden burst of energy.

That time the wererabbit didn´t stop at just a swing, they turned to the deathless around and took advantage of the short distance, raising an arm with claws poised to carve through flesh descending quickly. Koschei avoided the sharp appendages, letting them sink into the dirt and took a swipe himself, aiming to poison the Myth, but in his rush the other arm went ignored, leaving an opening the wererabbit gladly took.

Mid-strike Koschei found himself off balance, a muscular arm coming from behind, colliding with his lower back, bringing him closer to his adversary´s equally powerful chest, a crushing move that would severely incapacitate anyone. Time seemingly slowed down at that moment, the rush of fear seeping his brain triggering a though. His skeletal body came with an advantage, the deathless realized, and leaned into the backwards momentum to slips out of the grip just in time with a back-flip, landing in a crouched position and avoiding his demise.

Not giving up on his previous attempt the emaciated man readied his claws once again and jumped forward, trying to even just graze them, once the poison entered the bloodstream it would be a matter of minutes before they went down for good. Koschei´s would-be victorious moment however was trumped when a bloody paw smashed directly on his face and knocked his head onto the ground, disorientating him and impairing his movement. The man coughed up blood, choking on the tar-like liquid of his true form. He was too weak to even try to stand up. He wasn´t built to fight, nor did he have any extensive training in that field, the battle had been already lost before beginning, the deathless realized with a grim sense of humor. Such a shame, to go down after the start of the fight, he thought, not even able to deal a landing blow to the enemy. Koschei knew his end was certain.

Two blood-colored orbs appear above him along with a sickly visage of the executioner. “If there is a hell, then, I´ll see you there shortly, along with every other parasite sent there by my hand. Rest assured you´ll have company very soon.”

Koschei smiled despite the blow of the wererabbit´s words, a last act of defiance, thinking about the good times. Johan and Sinai, there weren´t better siblings in world he could´ve asked for, and Olga, the woman he´d promised himself to and would disappoint by not being able to wed her, the pain and tears mixed with the blood on the ground at those thoughts. He was so scared, not wanting to be alone, not wanting to leave them alone, but clinging onto the memories blessed his selfish heart with the tiniest amount of hope. " _Dummkopf schweinhund_." He opened his eyes and laughed in the face of death, a deathless´ death. A foot was brought down on the deathless´ head and he was no more, the life ended in a splatter of blood. One wondered if he´d lost his smile along with his head.

The Myth stayed in the same position for a while, as if waiting for their kill to regrow the head and come back to life, but nothing happened. Silence only interrupted by their heavy breath, no nearby animals making any sort of noise, having been scared away by the fight between the two monsters.

With a choked mix of a sob and a grunt the killer doubled over in a sudden bout of agony, their stomach cramping in pain from the combined lack of food and fighting. Those episodes were coming together more and more, no other type of animal meat could fill the need for human flesh.

“I won´t last long like this, I need food.” It couldn’t end like that, their mission had just begun, they couldn´t die just yet, not before taking out as many of the others as possible.

A glance at the broken corpse before them ignited an idea. The highest taboo possible to commit by any respectable Myth but they were going to wage war on their own kind, the metaphorical rule book had been tossed out the window the moment the first blow had landed.

“Of course, can´t leave the bodies for anyone to find.”

 

****

 

By the time Olga came to find Koschei all the arachne found were strands of wispy pale hair and torn shreds of clothing soaked in a black substance. Her heart stopped and she tried to convince herself the sight wasn´t real, that her mind was playing a horrible prank on her. Those remains had to be a human, not her fiancé. It couldn´t be.

“KOSCHEI!”

...It was.


	10. No use crying over spilled blood

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Having to deal with the consequences of your actions is a part of growing up but that doesn´t make it any less difficult.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> New characters ahead:
> 
> Irving Vaughn: Basilisk, 43 years old.  
> Wilhelmina Geis: Kobold, 44 yars old.
> 
>  
> 
> Hey... long time no see.
> 
> I know, it´s almost new year and only now I come up with a new chapter.
> 
> In my defense it was supposed to be a small chapter but it soon began to grow and I´ve split it into two different ones to better pace myself.
> 
> Work came to wreck me silly and suck out my creativity at some points but I´ve finally made it through, I hope you enjoy the chapter and leave a review to let me know what you think so far.

Morning always comes along to bring a new day. Unfortunately the events of the past night were still in motion, such as time dictates. Blood was still not going to flow again once spilled and what had been witnessed could not be unseen, past actions could not be taken back. Also, blood was hard to remove from fabric and left distinct imprints when, to exemplify, someone climbed a tree.

It should be known that going on an unauthorized underage hunt and coming back bloodied followed by falling asleep on the bed with the same clothes did not make a compelling case in someone´s favor. No one liked to admit they had lost control in a blinding bloodlust, had torn someone to shreds, got caught and then sent home with the promise of severe consequences.

A straightforward observation but from time to time it slipped from the mind of people, especially if they happened to be young.

The sun shining through the window got the three children to wake up, albeit none had the disposition to do so. Still rather stuffed from the previous night a feeling of nausea threatened to take over, small moans and grumbles accompanied the feeble attempts at getting up or any general movement. They rested in that state for an uncertain amount of time, drifting between the comfort of sleep and the chore of waking up. Somewhere along that process knocking on the door managed to get them to stir.

“Time to wake up.” Eun-ah called from the other side of the door, although not in the expected cheery tone. “Come in the living room now, all three of you.”

Fully waking up still somewhat disoriented the scene started out normal, they lazily sat up, yawned and stretched, rubbed their eyes and yawned some more. Last night was no more than a weird dream until they took in their state of clothing, not to mention the bedding as well, and silently started to panic. Red took up a good amount of space, dried and dark by that point, staining the fabric and clinging defiantly to their skin and hair. 

The kids scrambled out of bed, looking at each other with panicked expressions while thoughts rushed through their heads on what to do with the bloodied clothes and bedsheets. There was no time to wash and dry them, obviously, perhaps hide them for later retrieval and find replacements for the time being?

“Erm, sure, we´ll just take a quick shower before.” Will answered and pointed at the closet, prompting Yeong-hui to go through her belongings in a hurry to find clothes that would fit the two boys.

“I said now. And before you think about doing anything we already know what you were up to last night, maybe try not to come home covered in blood after leaving without coming down for dinner. You know there are spare keys to every room, right?” Footsteps echoed down the hallway, she hadn´t tried to open the door or presented any sign of anger towards them. Like the quiet before the storm and it sent chills down the kid´s spines.

Had Koschei already talked to their parents?

“We are deader than last year´s cat.” Muttered Alex as he dragged his hands across his face.

 

****

 

“Don´t you lot look like a pretty picture. Have a seat.”

Upon arriving to the living room the main couch was presented to the children draped with an old worn cover, a clear indication the adults had prepared for a possible mess, and to their surprise upon turning to face the other one there sat not only Yeong-hui´s parents but also Will´s and Alex´s mother. From the looks on their faces the party had already started, the stare of death given by the five adults could bring up the next ice age and freeze hell while at it. That was until they saw the state of their children. Whispered groans of annoyance flowed and hands rubbed temples at the sight of the pretty picture painted alongside the faint sickly sweet smell of copper.

Harnessing whatever courage had not dissipated the young ones took a seat, heads down in an attempt to avoid eye contact that could very well drain whatever had remained. They keep close-together, pressed against each other, affording themselves a small comfort for the talk that was about to rain on them, while picking at the patches of dried blood.

“May we ask where you lot where?” Began Wilhelmina, Will´s mother, whilst leaning back and crossing both her arms and legs, her figure exuding demand for respect. “There´s a theory in the works but we want your version, the full cut uncensored please.”

“I know this looks bad, but we can explain.” Yeong-hui´s voice cracked slightly under the adults´ gaze and she ended up looking down again as to try and avoid the shame clawing its way up her throat.

“Does that involve you three sneaking out and doing something that should only happen under the supervision of a capable adult? Or coming back and not even having the foresight to clean up before falling asleep on the bed and staining it with blood? Maybe you can explain forcing your way through the development of you primary forms? Oh yes, we can tell. Why do you think the earlier years of hunting are controlled?!.”

“Yes… maybe… kind of…” The young kobold trailed off, looking down as to not meet the disappointed gaze of his parents.

“You´re not talking your way out of this, William Vaughn Geis.” It was Irving´s turn to get a word in. “Do you have any idea how shocked- how worried we were to get a call at the crack of dawn from Eun-ah to let us know our child went out at night and came back bloodied along with his friends?”

Reacting quickly Yeong-hui took a stand in front of her friends, turning herself into a wall between them and the adults, arms spread out and chest heaving with nervousness.

“Please, don´t blame him. It was all my fault. I provoked them into coming with me. I know as the eldest I should set the example and my moment of weakness is no excuse but don´t punish them for something I did.” She almost didn´t manage to end her sentence before some tears began to fall, reducing the girl to barely contained sobs. In a contagious fashion the boys also began tear up, curling up on the couch and failing to wipe away their signs of remorse. They´d wanted to show how strong they were but only managed to disgrace themselves to a lower level than the adults had reached all those years ago.

It had been expected the altercation to produce some tears, but a parent was never fully prepared to see their child cry in emotional pain, no amount band aids and kisses on their own could heal that type of wound. What the children had committed could be a serious breach of secrecy, their actions could not go without consequences, but they were still young, yet to be fully developed and aware of the full deck of repercussions of their actions, no matter how many times they had been told adult supervision was key at their stage.

Byung-ho knelt down in front of his daughter and pulled her in for a hug, followed by Eun-ah, who placed a hand on his shoulder and opted to rub her back and kiss her head, choosing to ignore the dark red patches for the moment.

Yeong-hui only cried out louder, burying her face on her father´s shoulder, hyperventilating rapidly and trying to apologize, but nothing resembling words would come out. That only prompted her to panic even more and keep going, clinging onto her father as a metaphorical raft to reality.

 

Taking up Yeong-hui´s previous seat Alanna loosely wrapped her arm around Alexander´s shoulders, pulling him gently to lean against her, letting him keep crying silently and grab onto her torso. She remembered when it had happened to her and how she´d felt, the dawning of shame and regret, her mother doing the exact same thing to her young adult self. “Look, I know this isn´t comfortable for you but we need to talk about what happened. You know what you did was wrong.”

“Don´t be a hypocrite, mom, you weren´t exactly a saint by the accounts of your earlier days.” Even while sniffing and puffy eyed Alexander had it in him to sass her. Exactly what she had done all those years ago, except her mother had been fully in the right. Alanna was both impressed and aggravated. 

The succubus made a face as to suppress the urge to snap at her son, knowing he was right and doesn´t want to give him a reason to lose even more faith in her. The woman dragged a hand through her hair with a bit more force than necessary and let out a heavy sigh. “Yes, and as Byung-ho and Eun-ah told you I regret those moments deeply. I don´t want you to look back at this point in your life and feel like I do. I took lives for pleasure and not out of need, it poisons me inside every time I look back on it.” She tipped her son´s face upwards to look him in the eyes “There´s only concern of what all this might do to you in the future. As a mother my job is to do the best I can for you and keep you from making the mistakes I did.”

“So, you don´t hate me?”

“I´m disappointed, but I could never hate you.”

Meanwhile, immediately after Alanna had taken her seat, Will had at last gained the courage to look up to face his parents. “Does this means we should…?” He was barely held together. The pressure from the situation crushing his chest, but it could be also because he was at the edge of bawling his eyes out much like Yeong-hui.

“Come here.” Irving said, opening his arms in invitation for him to sit on his lap, which William did, right before the dam broke down and he did too. A loud wail pierced the air, the small body seemingly became even smaller in the arms of his parents while it shook through the downpour of tears.

“I´m so sorry, mom, dad. I knew it was wrong and did it anyway and I can´t explain why.” It was what he had meant to say, but through the half screams and sobs the only the intention of the apology got through. “I just wanted the three of us to be happy! They were hungry, I got hungry and it felt so good!” The kobold was a mess of tears and snot and soon enough was offered a tissue, too distraught to even register which parent had done it. That calmed Will down a bit and a few minutes later the sobbing calmed down significantly.

“I´m not going to say this isn´t without serious consequences but we´re going to work through this. You´re still going to be punished, what you did was wrong, but know you´re still our little boy and we won´t give up on you, not now or ever, got it?” Irving brushed the tears away with his thumb.

“I´m sorry I made you worry.” Hiccupped William and he buried his face in his dad´s shoulder once more.

“We´re parents, having to worry all the time came with the job.” Wilhelmina kissed her son´s head and rubbed his back affectionately. Although she had an austere reputation it did not meant she was incapable of showing emotions, merely more in control of them, and her son needed her emotional support right then. She followed the rules but not to the bitter end, although her son losing control had landed a heavy blow.

A couple minutes later the tensions had died down, the tears had been wiped away, only red puffy eyes and noses were left as proof, along with a couple discarded tissues. The children had chosen to remain in the arms of their parents, a choice none of the parties minded in the least, especially considering the next topic would be difficult as well.


	11. Nothing but the truth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The interrogation comes to a close on a lighter not but there is still on issue left to address...

"Unfortunately there´s more to this matter than three kids who decided to go big instead of staying home. We got a dead in our ranks and we need to know if you saw Koschei last night.” Byung-ho was the first to break the comforting silence, choosing to get to the pressing matter directly. 

“Wait, Koschei´s dead?!” William, Yeong-hui and Alex all yelled at the same time and leaned forward abruptly, eyes wide in disbelief.

“Always the one not to beat around the bush, huh?” Said Irving with a snort. “Have a little tact for once, they´re just kids.” The man adjusted his hold on his son´s shoulders and pulled the boy closer.

“Kids who very likely tore into someone like an open buffet.” Alana chimed in with a lighter tone.

“They´re kids.”

“They´re Myths.”

Sometimes in life there were people who did not see eye to eye, be it either about work, lifestyle, music choices or, when the powers of the universe align, on everything. Alana and Irving had never gotten along. For some reason or another neither liked the other, it had been disdain at first sight. They had the same circles of friends, went to the same school, even liked the same foods but something never really “clicked” between them. If Irving played a game Alana would make sure to get the high score. If Alana read a book Irving would go out and read the entire author’s library.

“Can we focus on the original subject, please?” Eun-ah intervened before the argument could even begin, choosing to spare them a chance to embarrass themselves in front of the children.

Both adults huffed and leaned back, crossing their arms and glaring daggers at each other. Alana felt her son pulling at her shirt and looked down to find him looking up at her with puffy eyes.

“Mom, is it true? He was fine when we left…” Downcast looking at his lap Alexander then turned to exchange worried gazes with Yeong-hui and William. “Did he die because of us?”

The question was knife set deep in the adult´s hearts. Somewhere, in a long list of things you do not want to tell your child, was explaining how they were indirectly responsible for the death of a family friend.

“No, no, no, no, no, no.” Wilhelmina is quick to reassure the children.

“Honestly, it could have been you if Koschei hadn´t stepped in.” Byung-ho was met with daggers being stared at him from his friends along with an elbowing from his wife “What?! It´s true.”

Eun-ah was aware of her husband´s straightforward nature but had not expected such a blunt affirmation in front of their daughter. “There´s being right and there´s being nice.”

“Does that mean dad´s right?” Yeong-hui turns to her mother for answers.

Soon enough none of the older Myths knew what to say. Death was a part of being a Myth but always from the human side. Trained from a young age to ignore any empathetic feelings regarding that practice was a self-defense mechanism, after all one could not take life after life and bear the growing burden of regret. Even the death of one of their own was regarded as a natural occurrence, death was death and no one could outrun it forever, even with a life expectancy of a couple hundred years.

However having the blood of a fellow Myth on one´s hands was a completely different matter. While disputes, in some cases, would be resolved by resorting to violence it was done in a mostly controlled environment, both parties consenting before a witness or more, attacking one of their own without a previous warning was considered a serious offense. That tradition was speculated to have taken root back when Myths were still developing in numbers, where every individual counted to make the species flourish. Over time a rational decision to avoid unnecessary deaths in their ranks had become akin to a law, a phenomenon comparable to how human cultures evolved and included old traditions into their societal structure.

When the silence started to weight down Eun-ah had to break the silence and come clean to her daughter, no matter how painful it was to both of them. “Yes, darling.” She laid her hands on her little hatchling´s shoulders and looked her straight in her eyes. “But it was an accident, you didn´t mean for any of this to happen. It wasn´t your fault.”

“I was the one to convince them to go out unsupervised. I´m the older one and I screwed up. I´m so sorry and I know no amount of apologies is going to bring Koschei back.”

Byung-ho opened his mouth but was quickly interrupted by Alex. The boy slipped from his mother´s hold and was quick to approach his friend, taking the chance before train wreck turned into the Titanic.

“What your dad meant was that if it hadn’t been Koschei it would have been someone else. Maybe someone we didn´t know, or even one of our parents. We just had terrible luck and Koschei got the short end of the stick.” With subtle movements the incubus gestured for the kobold to also get a word in. Byung-ho had meant well but that man´s finesse was comparable to a rock when it came to sensitive matters.

“Yeah, just think about it. Some other poor sap would have ended up disappearing anyway, it was bound to happen. The very least we can do now is try and help with catching this creep.” Will shook off his parent´s grip and joined in the efforts to cheer up Yeong-hui. Her recklessness and impulsiveness might have landed them in a fine mess but it was no reason to abandon her, they were still friends to the very end, hunt partners through thick and thin. The blood on her was the same as on him.

The girl jumped off the couch with no warning and pulled the two boys in a vice grip hug, not showing any signs of wanting to let go any time soon. Soft laughter soon followed, perhaps with a hint of crying, but that time it wasn´t sadness, it was relief.

“Thank you guys.” That was all they needed to hear, no long and elaborate speech could feel so relieving as knowing their friend wasn´t so deep in a dark place anymore.

“Does this mean you´re feeling better?” Asked Will with shortness of breath. Harpies were known for powerful leg and arm muscles after all. “If so you can let go now, broken ribs and bruises can be saved for another time.”

“Oh, my bad.” Loosening her grip, Yeong-hui slowly let go, not wanting the moment to end so soon.

“I have to say you´re dealing with this better than we ever did. Still, we were hormone-filled teens with a track record longer than Alana´s hookups.” Eun-ah couldn´t keep herself from getting a jab in at her friend´s old active lust life, an old but effective trick to lighten the mood.

“Hey!” Alana stuck her tongue and laughed.

Soon enough the harpy-wraith couple joined in and the laughter even managed to infect both Irving and Wilhelmina, although if you were to ask both would deny their own amusement.

The air was a lot clearer, no longer did the tension feel enough to be cut with a metaphorical knife.

“While we like how you three have managed to get over your initial shock into this unpleasant business there´s still the matter of what happened with Koschei.” The older kobold tried to get the topic of the initial discussion back on the table, having decided it was safe to touch again on the subject. “We still need to know what happened and you´re the last people to see him.”

“Well, long story short, he showed up and saw our sorry state just after we hacked a random jogger to pieces. Told us to go home, he´d take care of cleanup, and he was gonna talk to you about what we did, mine and Alex´s parents too.”

“That´s it? Nothing else?” Underwhelmed by Yeong-hui´s quick answer Wilhelmina tried to pry a bit more. There was no way that could be the entirety of the events, if so they really had no leads. “Didn´t you notice anything unusual? Maybe heard someone else come by?”

“Yes, mom, she´s telling the truth. We admit to doing this extremely stupid thing but we´re not hiding anything else. Please, you gotta believe us.”

“I believe you.” The woman sighed in defeat and leaned backwards “I was hoping for more because this means it´s the end of the line for this avenue of investigation. Lucy isn´t going to like this.”

Luciana Bell was the leader of the Overseer circle, a group of dedicated to keeping the order in a community, from keeping track of all active Myths in the area to helping settle disputes, if something had a sizeable chance of impact they kept tabs on it. If someone made the mistake to get their activities picked on by authorities they were there to help de-escalate the situation, but it had been a long time since the murder had been on their side of the field. As an Overseer Wilhelmina was on a job to collect all information regarding the murder of Koschei, something that was not going anywhere from the lack of evidence at the moment.

“Wait a minute. Mina, how does she already know what happened? Better yet, how does she know they saw him?” Asked Irving, fully aware of his wife´s position in the Overseer Circle. If she´d given them information regarding this little nighttime mishap they we all in for bigger trouble.

“Koschei´s death didn´t go unnoticed for long. Lucy got there and picked up on incubus, kobold and harpy, young. We´re all at high alert. Also, I got a call right after Eun-ah called me and our stories lined up too neatly to be a coincidence. Olga didn´t give them much either, she´s still in shock.”

“Olga… I can´t believe I forgot about Olga, the poor woman is must be devastated.” 

“Didn´t your wife tell you? Olga was the one who found him, or what was left anyway. Whoever did this did tried to dispose of Koschei by…” Pausing for a dry swallow Byung-ho proceeded while a disturbed expression flourished on his face. “…eating the evidence.” The wraith shuddered at the end.

 

“Dad!” “Gross!” The young ones all screamed at that, not as indisposed as Irvin was starting to look but still visibly upset. 

“Kids here, remember?!” Eun-ah leaned away from her husband and gestured towards the children.

“I think I´m gonna be sick. Excuse me for a moment.” Irving ran away, looking a pale shade of green that wasn´t dues to his scales.

“Thank you, Byung-ho, once again for your lack of subtlety. You know he doesn´t handle this type of stuff very well.” Mina threw open her arms in desperation. “One day someone is going to give into the temptation of strangling it out of you.”

“If the kids weren´t here I´d tell you in explicit detail how it´s happened before.”

“That´s it. No more going off topic.” Alana got up and kneeled down in front of the kids. “You could be in danger if this maniac saw you, they could very well come for you to finish the job. For the time being you´re forbidden to go out after the sun goes down or be in any isolated places by yourselves. We´re not taking any chances for this to be a repeat incident. We brought you clothes. Go wash off, then we´ll have breakfast and then we´re going back home.”

“Mom! How´s that fair?”

“Yeah. I already took responsibility for inciting this.” Yeong-hui held out her arms and gestured to the blood still coating her body.

“I know summer is for doing crazy things for 3 months but every parent is taking these preemptive actions to avoid any more tragic losses.”

“You´re still impulsive kids, not premeditating murderers. At least not yet.” A playful grin appeared on Eun-ah´s face and she gives her daughter a knowing look.

“Wait. You mean…?” Yeong-hui struggled to contain her joy at the thought of what they were to begin at last. The next step to becoming full-fledged hunters.

“Yes. You´re getting started on your group training sooner rather than later, it seems. With the possibility of you becoming targets we´re gonna prepare you in case you have to fend for yourselves.”

A rush of emotion went through the kid´s hearts.

A first hunt was an important event, but the participants had to practice by themselves and did not get any formal training, as to get evaluated on their base skills by the observers, a role usually performed by the parents or caregivers.

The failure of their first hunt would always linger, of course. Sloppy work was always to be expected, something akin to a child´s drawing, endearing with room for improvement with enough dedication.


	12. Meet me at the bar

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tracking and taking down a wererabbit should be something you´d hear about as a joke, not live through. The Overseers try to tackle a never before seen problem before the murderer treats all of them as their next snack.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A complete new set of characters up ahead:
> 
> Luciana "Lucy" Bell: Werecat, 36 years old.  
> Sonia Torres: Quetzalcoatl, 43 years old.  
> Ullrich Singh: Manananggal, 40.  
> Ilana Evans: Dryad, 28.

“Whatever was left of the body was spotted in the woods by Olga, she was worried her date had run into some trouble and followed him. She identified the body as Koschei and called me. After I arrived with backup I gave the definite identification as Koschei from the scent.” 

Luciana was uncomfortable to be the center of attention during such an unprecedented occasions. Being put on the spot because of this death made it feel like her energy was being drained by the second, dealing with Olga alone had torn her heart, comforting the usually energetic woman reduced to little more than a barely aware shell in front of what was left of her lover would be forever burned into the werecat´s heart.

“What do you mean by that?”

“I sniffed a bloody puddle at the crack of dawn in the middle of the woods, it´s not like I was the only one to ever do it.”

“I meant the part about the body not being whole.” Ilana sighed and leaned back. This was not how she wanted to spend her day, dealing with a murder of a community member inside the bar owned by the siblings of said victim. No amount of alcohol could dull her senses enough to bring her enough apathy to dull her nerves. Still she reached for her glass and drained its contents.

“My bad. I´m sorry, I´m just so… exhausted. Like said, the body was disposed of as if the individual had a bout of hunger.”

“You mean… Oh, I´m gonna be sick.” The alcohol was coming back up and this time the burn was not as pleasant.

“A cannibal, a bloody cannibal is roaming these streets. There´s barely any information regarding previous situations, rumors and legends at best. We´re all in the dark here.”

Ullrich had no shortage of words to describe the atrocious act committed against someone dear to him. One of his best friends wasn´t coming back. The man who had gotten him invested enough to open a funerary and supply Myths with meat, the friend who had taught him throughout the years was dead at the hands of some faceless traitor. He wondered how long before the shock of the news died down and people started complaining about him never giving a damn about people´s struggles.

“The ultimate taboo, turning on your brethren.” The dryad tried to keep her drink down with another one, or at the very least get the acidic taste out of her throat.

“Our ancestors did not give it all just so in the end some malcontent traitor could ruin us. We need to organize stakeouts to try and catch them. They’ve killed once, no reason not to do it again.” Sonia had chosen to speak up at last, her protective nature urging her on. “No one goes out alone at night or to isolated locations, children will need 24/7 adult backup and all hunting needs to be canceled until we have dealt with this.”

“Are you insane?!” Ullrich straightened in his chair and leaned forward, the proposition had made his heart jump to his mouth. “No hunting means we´ll have to depend entirely on the funerary business. Trust me on this, we can't meet that demand 100% for more than maybe 3 weeks, a month at best. It would exhaust all our current stock of frozen meat and organs. Not to mention Koschei was one of our best when it came to emptying out a corpse.”

To Myths killing was a second nature, nurtured throughout the childhood years and encouraged to be perceived as normal. They need to eat in order to survive and the most important food for them didn´t come in a nice supermarket package… it came from an alternative source.

Throughout the years and as technology evolved it had become harder and harder to hunt. Humans grouped in cities and the night became more and more illuminated and while one could still hunt in darker locations it had become more often their prey was bottom of the barrel grade, leaving children without the good fresh meat they needed to develop.

Humans adapted to their surroundings, blended in with the crowd, why not do the same? Taking advantage of the desire to preserve loved ones prior to burial had become a profitable business, both in a monetary and food supplying way. It took a knowledgeable undertaker to know how to carve out the body and sew it back together and make it appear like a normal corpse ready for the grave. 

“And what do you suggest? Waiting for this problem to fix itself isn´t an option.” Rainbow feathers sprout from Sonia´s hair, not unlike a harpy, their length increasing enough to weigh significantly to make the woman realize her control had slipped and let out a soft curse before calming down. “If they get desperate enough we might get a public incident and there´s already enough legends about Mothmans and Lochness Monsters out there to make certain once prolific hunting grounds unusable.”

The other three myths silently agreed, having either heard stories or been present for emergency relocation. An incident made public would mean the move of the 34 myths currently accounted for in the area.

“You two have a point, rest assured your concerns are both valid.” Luciana stands up and rests her hands on her hips, releasing a sigh of exhaustion. “As head of the Overseers I say we need to fix this ASAP before the city gets a wererabbit monster for a tourist attraction. Relocating would be a nightmare, every single Myth in this city and general area would either move or risk being another blurry photo in an internet forum for conspiracy loonies, and even then this thing would very likely come for the rest of us.”

“You might want to sit back down, this isn´t the end of this matter.” Ilana lazily motioned for Luciana to take her seat, already tipsy (when had she ever been fully sober in her adult years?!) but the alcohol doesn´t have much effect on her reasoning skills, her body having adapted to metabolize it faster over the years. “I agree with your positions but there is the need to see the bigger picture. Patrolling, as you suggested, would mean being out in our usual hunting public locations for long periods of time in either pairs or groups, enabling for easier recognition of our strategy, not to mention identification of Myths they might not know about.” The Dryad pauses to take another sip of her ambrosia before finishing her turn. “After all, we don´t have any idea of who this might be, there are no wererabbits accounted for in the area. Are they going to strike again, was it a vendetta or Koschei just happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time?”

Inebriation aside, Ilana made a solid point. With no clear identity of the murderer they would have no idea who or where to start with. Taking time off from their jobs would do them no good if it were to be all wasted in a fruitless pursuit, as there was no way of knowing if there was going to be another attack, be it random or planned./p>

“Fair enough. Any alternatives? We need to catch them in the shortest amount of time possible before they cause any more damage. Wilhelmina already ended up empty handed with her son and his friends, they might be next on a supposed hit-list.” Was it bad he was considering payback in the same fashion? An eye for an eye can make the world go blind but he had no qualms with stabbing out a pair of eyeballs.

Silence reigned over the room, various expressions passing over the faces of the Overseers, the weight of their responsibility towards their brethren.

Lucy raked her hand through her hair, two cat ears sprouting through it anxiousness.

Ilana stared at the bottom of her glass, eyes glazed over, whether in deep thought or lost in the alcohol.

Ullrich bit his nails, claws at that point but he was lost to fantasies of revenge.

Sonia curled up in her chair, burying her face up to the nose in the soft plumage of her collar.

At the end of it they ended up looking at Lucy, the point of looking for a strategy defeated by then. It takes little time for the werecat to realize all attention is back on her again and with a shocked realization she stands up and slams her hands on the table.

"Hey, hey, hey, stop looking at me like that. Being the head of the Overseers doesn’t make me an instant strategist. You all elected me because I can lead and now I´m leading us towards a plan, a plan we all need to agree on and formulate together.” Guilty faces looked away from the outburst, but still no one said anything. “We´re all crazy scary but this one is crazy and scary, we have to take them out fast. We´re already one council member short because Sinai knew her emotions would affect her at the meeting. Planning you brother´s funeral while trying to catch his killer would wear her down and there was already one murderous Myth out there, no need to make it two or even three.”

At last a sigh was heard from the manananggal, something between exasperation and defeat with a hint of self-consciousness. “This is all new to everyone here, don´t fault us by looking at the highest authority.” Ullrich snatched the freshly filled glass from Ilana´s hand, the dryad countering with a small protest before drinking directly from the bottle. "Well let´s get on with it, it may be Sunday but since Koschei won´t be showing up I need to call Dan and open up today, corpses don´t wait for anyone. Figures we´d end up short a pair of hands when old geezers start dropping like flies from heatstroke." Oh, the shock had worn off. Well f-

"For the love of the deceased have some decorum! We need to prevent a disaster and you´re making light of a very important matter! I swear if you didn´t own the funerary and weren’t one of the eldest around you´d have been thrown out long ago." How desperately she wanted a drink but she had to set an example, even if the point of it had become irrelevant long ago.

"Careful how you talk to your elders." A growl from his superior had Ullrich putting his hand up. "Sorry, sorry. Serious from now on, I promise."

That was not going as smoothly as they´d wanted, all they could hope was by the time they came up with a plan they´d be sober and no other victim had been claimed.


	13. Once almost bitten, twice in love

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A blast for the past is the best way to pass the time while waiting to get home for a talk with your prematurely murderer offspring.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I´d love some feedback on how the story is going and if you want to make a small cameo with an OC (human on Myth) you can reach me at my tumblr http://demonesskneesocks.tumblr.com/
> 
> I´ll also be honest and say I don´t know where I want to go with this story so if you also want to have influence in the direction I´ll be heading in you´re free to contact me and I´ll give you proper credit on the idea.

Coffee. The dark, bitter sustenance of an artist in search of inspiration. Or battling an overwhelming urge to eat.

“Give me a latte with extra chocolate syrup, please.”

Sugar, coffee´s best friend and what made the black swill palatable.

Alanna needed inspiration. Writing was hard, writing well was near impossible, especially while hungry. She´d let time fly by and before knowing it the time to feed again was upon her. Coffee was a small fix until night came and the hunt was on. Maybe she could try that new nightclub, barely anyone had taken it as a hunting ground at the moment, back alley prowling had no appeal to it but after those binge years she needed to get the bad habits out of her system.

After paying for her cup of pure diabetes it was time to head out. Until she laid eyes on a possible distraction for the time being. The dark haired cutie was sitting alone in a corner table and surprise surprise, was reading one of her favorite books, “The wandering Leviathan”. Time to turn on the charm and place bets in her head on how long before she´d have him praying to her. Half an hour if his home was nearby, a little over if they settled on a motel, maybe a just shy of an hour if he wanted to come over and be convinced his place was just fine. Never bring people over, no need to have your quickie know where you lived.

“Good choice on literature, glad to know I´m not the only one that appreciates character development without forced interactions and not overly expositional world building. Alanna, nice to meet a fellow fantasy lover.” Show a smile, not flirty at first, go for the friendly approach. That´s it, he´s falling, now ask if you can sit. “Mind if I sit with you?”

“Not at all. Malik, I´ve never seen you around.” The young adult smiles, not bothered at all by being interrupted. He doesn´t have much free time and it´s nice to see someone share in on his love of fantasy literature.

Now blush just a touch, that´s it. He´s at the core battle, the most intense moment of the book, interest is showing through evidently as he closes the book. The huntress makes her move once again. “Yeah, I haven’t come here a lot before.” She hadn’t, truth makes the act all the more convincing, faking a scenario all the way can trigger those pesky subconscious survival alarms.

“Oh, my bad. You just look older so I thought- anyway, what´s your field?” Malik smiles and leans back, taking a sip of his room temperature tea. How long had he been lost inside those pages?

“My field?” Unexpected roadblock ahead! She needs to remain calm, she´s dealt with all sorts of sudden questions before and she´s going to emerge victorious this time as well.

While alarms go off inside the Myth´s head the human remains oblivious to her internal restlessness, a good sign. If your target pics up on your nervousness it can make them nervous, which leads to more questions and those questions lead to awkwardness and then it´s easy to blow your shot.

“What are you studying? I´m studying to be an animator, but I´d like to create a comic if I ever get the chance.”

“Oh. I don´t… I don´t go here. And I´m 23.”

Her ´date´ is a college student, she´d been expecting it, the campus was just a few minutes away, no problem in that area- except why did he have to ask about her education?! If he turned out to be one of those stuck up wanna-be preppies there went her afternoon entertainment and if he happened to mention this to friends next time she was picking up prey they could know about her. A longshot scenario, sure, but it could happen!

Oh boy, how long had she been stuck in her internal monologue? Just a few moments of awkward silence could doom any rescue attempt. No, wait, he was saying something. It was panicked and WHY WASN´T SHE PAYING ATTENTION?!

“I am such an idiot. Please, I´m so sorry. I assumed and shouldn’t have ever and not everyone needs to go to college not like you´re dumb or anything, not like I was implying and I mean-”

Alanna bursts into laughter and all planning slips her mind. Just her to have picked up an easily flustered guy with a penchant for fantasy novels. She might have a type after all.

Malik blushes even more and Alanna struggles to contain her outburst, the hunt was still on after all. Or was it? She couldn´t recall if he had been on the menu.

“It's fine. Please stop before you have a stroke, if I have to call an ambulance there's a paramedic or two I don't need to run into at the moment.” She needs to lean to shut up when talking to people, that was talk for the Heisler bar.

Malik calms down and for some reason feels his cheeks heat up even more than when he went on his little rant. Was it him or there was something different about this stranger?  
“Thanks for not taking this brain vomit moment seriously, my heart nearly leapt out of my chest.”

“If you want I can have it do it again, but for completely different reasons.” A wink and yes, he is in her grasp at last. Not the most challenging pickup so far but she wouldn´t complain.

“Do you make a point of dating guys who you just met?”

“You´re the first one.” Lie, but he didn´t need to know that.

 

 

 

“You dated him!”

“I slept with him. A date was never on the table.”

“Apparently you were.” Malik crosses his arms and mutters with anger.

“Couch actually.” Alanna gets a dirty look and her brain processes her words. Wrong vocabulary, that was for going out with the others. “Look, I never made a point of hiding that you weren´t close to the first person I slept with.”

“I thought it was at most a handful, not…” The soon to be ex-boyfriend makes wild hand gestures and splays out his arms.

“Wonderful.” Grinding the heels of her palms on her eyes the Myth lets out a groan and accepts the bitter taste of defeat. “So, I guess you want me to leave you alone from now on.”

“No! I want you to be honest with me. You slept with my friggin´ roommate and I had to learn that from you coming in and a remark about ´coming back for more´ of an anatomical part of his.”

“So now you want to know the exact number of individuals I have graced with my genitals.”

“That sounds so wrong.” Malik made a disgust sound and his face scrunches up with revulsion. “But yes. I Think. Maybe.”

He was not entirely sure what expect but Alana is already going ahead, anger clouds the Myth´s thoughts and may any existing deity have mercy on the man´s maybe real soul because he will not leave that room any time soon.

“Well then, take a seat.” Alana´s eye twitches and she sits down, patting the cushion next to her, encouraging her ´whatever he is to her´ at this point to do the same. “I said sit.” Intimidating Malik into obeying her was never her intention at first but screw it all he sat down and Alana continues. “You brought this on yourself, so here's how it's gonna go. I am going to list everyone I can remember and you will listen to every word to the very end. If by the end of it you still want this relationship to work great, if not I am walking out that door and no amount of sweet nothings will make me come back.”

“Deal.”

There is dread in the air but if he accepts this part of her maybe the other one won´t be so hard to stomach. Right?

 

 

 

“STOP!”

“My meal, not my fault you´re getting slow.”

How was it date night took a tumble so bad Malik had become part of the menu?

The date had been going really well. She´s been taking advantage of happy hour and her higher alcohol tolerance while listening to him talking excitedly about a generously paying commission. The money wasn´t that much but when your parent´s help can only go so far it was nice to get a job that didn´t pay in ´exposure´.

Then the stupid, damnable, most frustrating cliché meteor went down, crashed into their lives and made a sizable crater. They´d left the bar and had only rounded the corner when lost in her alcohol addled thoughts Alana remembered she didn't have her purse and ran back for it, asking Malik to wait for her.

Karma must have been finally getting back at her for what she'd done a few years back, because when she got back her boyfriend was nowhere to be found and in her confusion the thought came to mind. There was a Simargl out hunting that night and if she was right it was about to eat Malik in THAT DARK ALLEY!

“He´s…boyfriend…mine.” Alanna bent down, resting her hands on her knees, panting hard from both the run and fear. Mainly fear.

“Oh.” The huge winged wolf looked between the two lovers and withdrew from the hold he had onto the young man. “Dammit. Wasted energy on this crap.” Johan whispered while taking his hand off Malik´s mouth slowly, backing away while his jaw snapped back into place, jagged fangs and snout disappearing along with everything non-human, leaving a tall redhead in its place. “Well I apologize for this awkward moment and hope we can become friends in the future.”

“I…We… You…” Malik could not stop stammering in shock, sinking to the ground in a dazed state. Just a few moments before he´d been waiting on his girlfriend and was suddenly held by a large hand covering most of his skull, covering his mouth as well, and dragged into the darkness where a huge winged anthropomorphic wolf laughed at his struggling pitiful attempt at escaping death. Those moments felt like his last until Alanna showed up and somehow the horrible beast turned into a regular man having a short talk with her.

Straightening his jacked the Simargl turned around, looking down on Alana with a mixture of annoyance and amusement. “Next time you decide to date a human try to warn the others, it's not fun getting screwed out of a meal. Dunno why you´re even playing with food in the first place, we all know your track record.” The tall man continued his walk to the alley entrance before turning around for one final warning “Oh, and remember: keep him quiet one way or the other or we´ll do it for you. Ball´s in your court, it's your move and you better make it count.”

With a final goodbye Johan disappeared into the night to find another suitable meal, humming ´You give me fever´ with an unnerving smile blooming on his lips. Soon after the sound was far away enough to disappear along with him, leaving the two lovers to sort out what was sure to be disastrous to be put mildly.

Reaching into her bag for a dose of liquid courage Alanna turned around and approached Malik, kneeling down, avoiding any sort of physical contact to be on the safe side, not knowing how his mental state was at the time. 

“C'mon, let's get you home.” She whispered and held out her hand, no smile, only a look of concern. Malik did not show any sign of compliance and Alana looked away, unsure if it was the shame or the guilt making her do it. “Let's get inside, there's some things I didn't know I´d have to tell you this early on.”

“What… who was that?” It was her answer, barely audible. Malik had his head tucked between his knees, his hands buried in his hair occasionally twitching. “How do you know him?”

“Please let´s just go, we can talk back at your place. I know you may have a lot of questions and I promise to answer them all to my best ability. Trust me, please.”

“I… I don´t know. I can´t.”

“I don´t blame you.”

Her hand remained empty but her heart was even emptier.

 

 

They´d been sitting on the couch for a couple of minutes, all the questions he had for Alanna hiding behind a wall of silence. What could one say when the person you love and thought to know turned out to be a façade, a ruse to enthrall victims and lure them in to their doom. 

“I´m so sorry, I forgot to tell the others you were off limits. You´re the first human I´ve dated so the protocol completely slipped my mind, but you won´t have to worry about it again.” Alanna broke the silence hanging over the room with an uneasy smile only to instantly regret her words and quickly cover her mouth in horror. When your boyfriend gets attacked and this is how you go on from there you start to wonder how sane you really are.

“What do you mean ´first human I´ve dated´?” If looks could kill that one would do the trick just fine, merging distrust with a dash of anger and a pinch of fear made for a powerful cocktail.

This was it. The moment where she could reveal all there was to know about her ´other half´ and at last be free of that annoying feeling in her chest every time those pools the color of the finest cognac were laid on her. Contemplating the truth and comparing Malik's eyes to alcohol, she should´ve kept track of her drinks, happy hour tended to make things a little fuzzy around the edges.

“Well, you see… Things is… I may be… I am…” She was stalling, fiddling with her hands and looking at her lap, it would be best to spit it out before he told her to get out. “NotexactlyhumanImaybeactuallyaMythandI´msosooryJohantriedtokillyouandweeathumans.” Oh for the love of goodness that had been underhanded and just-

“You´re not human and eat humans, yes. Why eat us? Why eat me?” Uneasily, Malik briefly put a hand on top of his girlfriend´s, making her look up at him in surprise. The anger was gone from his eyes, well at least three quarters of it. “Make me understand.”

“We mainly eat the ones in the margins of society, people not many would miss and criminals. Why do you think crime´s so low in this city? You don´t even see many loitering around after dark.”

“But I´m not like that, people would notice if I´m gone.”

“Yeah… I did say mainly.”

“That still doesn´t answer my question, why humans?”

There would be no more avoiding the ugly, bloody, messy and whatever else adjectives fitted truth. With a big breath Alanna answered Malik´s question, deciding to stop trying to diverge the subject.

“It´s biological. Predators need to eat prey to live and for an unknown reason there´s no replacing you in the food chain, no matter how far we searched nothing ever came close to, well, you know.”

“Human meat.” The dark-haired man made an understanding motion with his head, averting his gaze and growing uncomfortable at an abrupt realization “I have a feeling that when you approached me back at the coffee shop your intentions weren´t a date.”

The myth dry swallowed, making effort not to avert her gaze as well. “I can´t deny that. I wanted a quickie to forget I was hungry but the thought did cross my mind.” 

“I can´t deal with this.”

Malik got up and started to pace back and forth muttering the same phrase over and over, running his hands through his hair to the point his signature pony-tail came undone.

“Yeah, I was expecting that much.” Damn honesty, best policy her ass. “I shouldn't have ever led you on and-”

“Not that.” He stopped pacing and was suddenly crouching in front of her, hands on her shoulders. “How am I still attracted to you?”

“Oh.” That had not been the reaction Alanna expected. “I´m young, beautiful and sex is great. There´s also my friendly personality, we both enjoy B-rated movies to laugh at and fantasy books with lots of lore, need I go on?” The ego was going in for the kill.

“I must be crazy. I´m talking to a literal predator after being almost gutted by one of her friends and fuck me because I still love you and I don´t even know what you really look like.”

It was all too much for her. His big, strong hands on her shoulders, the way he admitted his love for her after knowing what she was. The straw that broke the camel's back was again those expressive eyes.

Alanna pounced but it was one of the few times she wasn´t going in for the kill. Then she briefly left his lips for the only time that night to reveal her secret.

“I´m a succubus.”

 

 

 

 

“Mom, I´m done.”

Alanna almost jumped out of her skin.

Alex stood there in fresh clean clothes, all traces of blood and entrails washed out, his hair pulled in a low pony-tail. A few more years and he´d look almost like his dad.

Where did time go? Last time she´d checked she was still an impulsive young adult recovering from her youth´s mistakes, then a young adult in love, a too young widow not soon after and now look at her, a kid on the way down the same path only way ahead of schedule.

“Alright, let´s go. We need to have a talk.”

“Please, not the birds and the bees.” Alex made an amused face with a touch of horror in the mix. Would that be part of his punishment?

Alana chuckled and got up with a spring in her step. “Don't worry, it's about the hunger and the hunt.” This time the way too eager Myth would have a guide, no more repeating the past, lest he also end a widower with a kid he wouldn’t be prepared for.

Alex took the lead to the front door, opening it to his mother before stepping out as well into the daylight. They were the last to leave, William having left along with Wilhelmina and Irving fifteen minutes previously. Byung-ho had headed out as well with a bloody bag with the kid´s clothes to be destroyed in Ulrich crematorium and Eun-ah was still helping Yeong-hui get the blood out of her tangled hair, no need to bother the two.

“Did I ever tell you how I fell in love with your dad?” 

“He loved you, tentacles and all.”

“Yes, he did.”


	14. Blood, bath and gossip

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> While Yeong-hui and Eun-ah enjoy mother/daughter bonding time Byung-ho pays Ullrich a visit.
> 
> New not-so-relevant-for-now character:  
> Daniel "Dan" Rivers: Mothman, 28 years old.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I´d love some feedback on how the story is going and if you want to make a small cameo with an OC (human on Myth) you can reach me at my tumblr http://demonesskneesocks.tumblr.com/
> 
> I´ll also be honest and say I don´t know where I want to go with this story so if you also want to have influence in the direction I´ll be heading in you´re free to contact me and I´ll give you proper credit on the idea.

Eun-ah knew the particular struggle of getting blood out of long hair, a little from her experience but mainly from helping Byung-ho during their wild years.

“Ouch!”

“Sorry, but you should know not to sleep with your hair covered in blood. You´ve made your first bird´s nest, can´t say I´m not impressed.”

Kneeling on top of a folded towel behind the clawfoot tub the harpy mom made use of a good amount of conditioner and a wide-toothed comb for washing Yeong-hui´s hair and getting the coppery substance out of her auburn hair.

“Why isn´t dad helping me? He´s got longer hair than yours.” The girl hugged her knees and blew on the bubbles atop the water, making them sail like tiny ships.

“He´s on his way to Ulrich to get your clothes incinerated, lucky us he´s open today.” Eun-ah squeezed some more conditioner onto her hands and ran them across the long tresses, trying to break apart the clumped blood.

“What! Ouch!” Caught by surprise Yeong-hui leaned forward suddenly, catching her mother´s fingers and pulling them forward still tangled in her hair.

“Careful.” Having gotten caught in the splash zone the older harpy brought her hands back to take in the now random wet spots on her shirt and noticing for the first time the red stains as well. “Heh, I could use a bath too.”

“Why?! I loved that shirt.”

Yeong-hui sunk down into the foam-covered water, leaving the tub at risk of overflowing with clusters of pink bubbles already falling to the tiled floor. Turning around the girl propelled forward to face her mother only to send a miniature wave to soak the elder harpy even more, this time both the shirt and shorts getting the treatment.

“You should´ve thought of that before dying it with human entrails. Besides we´re even.” She said while making gestures pointing to her loose grey shirt sporting red and pinkish stains.

“Yours is for hanging around the house, mine was still new. Couldn´t you just wash it?”

“We could, before DNA came in and ruined our fun. Also, try getting blood from light colors, even machine wash leaves stains. Next time wear something you´re not attached to. Also, do anything like this again and I mean it. I will ground you into your twenties, hypocrisy be damned. Now turn around and hold up your hair.”

Yeong-hui let defeat come through and complied with her mother, this time turning around carefully to avoid more water spilling over. She wondered about the rest of her clothing and came to the conclusion they´d suffered the same fate, taking a mental note to ask for replacements in the future when her parents were less angry. Maybe next month.

Eun-ah took a look at the scalp hidden under the blood her daughter had somehow gotten in there and made and exasperated face but held in any sigh from coming out. She´d made a choice back in her youth to make it easier to clean out the blood but making it for Yeong-hui was not something she´d consider. Picking up the sponge she went to clean the neck area.

“Careful, don´t leave me looking like a plucked chicken.”

“You´re lucky, the first time I got this much blood on my hair I cut off most of it.”

“That was-”

“Stupid, I know. I got panicky and went from this you have to above my shoulders.” Eun-ah paused and figured if she was admitting to youthful embarrassing moments she might as well reveal the whole embarrassing details. “Your dad helped. Didn´t turn out that bad now that I think about it. Alright, you can finish up, if there´s anything else we can comb it out.”

The woman got up and stretched her entire body, a few bones popping here and there, let out a satisfied sigh and picked up the towel to leave for Yeong-hui to dry her hair with. It was an old one, various spots having a faded coloration due to her bleaching her hair over the years. Call it sentimental value but it would be hard to throw out something that had become part of her routine. 

Eun-ah took her leave and closed the door most of the way, her daughter did deserve some privacy after all, while reaching over the wardrobe to get a basket with a blow-dryer and a few hair combs. How long had it been since her little bird had let her wash and dry her auburn locks? Nostalgia hit hard, a hatching grew to an adult so fast and before one knew it had left the nest and went to find her place somewhere in the world.

“Dad said his dream was owning a flower shop. The flower shop you two own.”

Snapped out of her thought Eun-ah said the first thing that came to her head.

“He knew how to trim bushes.”

Oh, those had not been the best choice of words if Yeong-hui´s reply would be anything to go by.

“I bet he knew how-“

“Shush. You need to stop going to Alex´s house so much, Alana still talks like she´s in her twenties.”

“Sorry to burst your bubble,” Yeong-hui popped her head through the doorway, her long hair dripping down and creating a small puddle “but it was you.”

“What? Hey, watch the floor!” 

“My bad!” Retreating back into the bathroom the youngest harpy came back with a towel wrapped around her head and with another around her body. “Remember when we went shopping and you had to make a quick stop at ´Liquid Luck´ to pick up a mystery item? I was right next to you when you commented on Sinai´s latest pick-up being a botanist.”

Sighing in defeat Eun-ah patted the chair in front of the desk covered in miscellaneous objects. “That place always brings out the younger part of everyone. I´m sorry you had to hear that.”

“Speaking of, how are Johan and Sinai?” 

The awkward subject resurfaced once more. As much as anyone would like to pretend it was just another day at the end of it all one of them was dead and another was somewhere waiting for another Myth to rip apart.

“No idea as of yet, but I´m sure they´re going to close the bar for the week. Getting your brother killed like that is something you´d think only happens to humans.”

Taking a seat, Yeong-hui picked up her phone and was greeted by her panda-themed background. No new messages. She knew it was still early but a part of her couldn´t wait to talk again with Alexander and William, to know how their parents were handling it and if they knew how the Overseers were going to handle the situation.

“And Olga?”

“Yeah. She´s… upset.”

“Mom, I´m thirteen. You can tell me someone is in a bad emotional place.” Setting the phone down and looking up she was greeted with an expression of worry but something was different. Was fear mixed in there as well?

“I guess you´re right.”

 

****

 

“Olga´s in a pretty bad place at the moment. It´s what noon? Barely twelve hours have passed since the universe pulled a ´fuck you bitch´. Anyone would be when your lover of seven years gets killed with nothing but a pool of blood left behind. Ever since she found him she won´t say a word. According to Lucy all she does is either cry or stare blankly at nothing.”

“Any word of a funeral?”

“Not yet. We barely had time to clean up the scene and get good old Dr. Sawbones to confirm time of death on him.”

“You mean Dr. Bein.”

“Guy´s a coroner, what's the difference anyway?” The funeral director laughed too cheerfully for someone who'd lost an old friend.

Ullrich leaned on the counter and looked over Byung-ho´s shoulder with a wide smile. People kept walking by, unaware of how closely they were being watched by what some would call death incarnate, a sucker of blood and devourer of flesh that had terrorized the Philippines for centuries. But, at that moment, it was not prey the hunter craved, but customers.

“Difference is he works for us. All we gotta do is make sure our paths never cross in the dark and we´ll be fine.” Byung-ho leaned sideways to block the black-haired man´s line of sight, aware of the man´s tendency to drift when the conversation stopped being interesting.

“Well during the day must be another story.” The manananggal turned back to yell to the back of the shop the question that followed. “Right, Dan?”

“You can shove it already.” A burgundy haired young man poked his head from the backroom looking very much annoyed. “Go fuck yourself because unlike you I have more than one person to help me with it.” With a departing rude hand gesture Daniel went back inside, wondering why he ever had decided to tell such a blabbermouth. Oh, right, he´d been very much intoxicated.

“Youth these days, no respect for their elders.” Ullrich spoke loudly and laughed more at the antics of his assistant while twirling his braid.

Daniel Rivers had moved into the city not long ago, running from legends about mothman his most considerate grandfather had left as a legacy. Who know how his father managed to hold on in the same place for so long, constantly having to look out for conspiracy weirdoes? He was 28 and did not favor a life of tiptoeing around to avoid another blurry picture that´d fuel internet conspiracies for years to come. 

In a turnabout of life the flying hunter found himself settling down away from home and working for Ullrich and Koschei, two older men with a penchant for the morbid side of life and a mind for the business of emptying out human cadavers before either cremating or embalming whatever was left. He did not regret this decision, a hands on job was no problem and he even got to take home food every other day, although he did reconsider why he ever though the gossip king would keep his lips sealed on a subject.

“Did I black out during this conversation? What happened?” The wraith could only look between the back door and the man playing with his hair with a confused expression, his main objective for being in the funerary home taking the backseat to give place to his curiosity.

“Please, what do we do best besides fuel the funeral and alcohol economy?” The amusement in the manananggal´s voice told every last detail. The lecherous look in his eyes also helped spark curiosity within the wraith´s mind.

“No… Wasn´t the doc straight?”

“Bi, from the looks of it.”

“How can you two be talking about my lust life when just yesterday there was a murder?! Forget it, I wasn´t here, I´m getting back to work.” Murmuring under his breath he added. "Insensitive jackass."

“Tone it down! I don't need customers coming in here to be greeted by more death! Also, when you're around death so much you get desensitized to it, doesn't mean I don't care about Koschei or Olga!”

The yells of the coworkers brought Byung-ho back from curiosity mode and reminded him of why he´d been in the shop in the first place. It was just like him to run an errand and get sidetracked by idle chit-chat. He had no idea where the stereotype of harpies being birdbrained came from, his daughter had better focus than him and a greater attention span than Ullrich.

“Honestly, you two…” Taking a pause to exhale to let out some annoyance and rub his eyes at the banter he was being subjected to Byung-ho wondered how they would ever be able to get any work done now that Koschei was no longer among them. “Poor woman, who knows when she´ll be able to fully process this.”

“Speaking of, you came here for me to process something? By my guess it´s that bag from- oooh, I didn´t know you shopped there. Are they the ones on sale or is it the store next door?”

“Let me stop you right there before both of us forget who we are. Also I don´t need your lack of empathy rubbing on me, I already got elbowed for it today once." He handed the brand clothing bag over the counter. "Here you go."

Not surprisingly Ullrich made sure no one would be entering just to take a quick peak at what was inside. The manananggal let out a gasp and closed the bag to look up at Byung-ho with a shocked face… before taking another much longer look and dipping a finger into the stained clothes to rummage around, taking care not to let anything stick to his skin.

“How many people did your kid and the other two shred to pieces?!”

“One. In a related topic you may read about a missing jogger in the newspaper this week.” It was the wraith´s turn to take on a sheepish expression.

“Oh joy, if they went for a local with a family or worse, someone of importance, we can add the friggin´ police to the growing list of people chasing us. More than usual at least. Daniel, c´mere I have something for you.”

“I´m working, I´m all covered in blood.” 

“Not a problem.” Ullrich went to the backroom entrance and handed the bag over to the young man on the other side of the door and whispered his instructions. “Please take this and incinerate this with what's left of Mrs. Whittaker. That´ll teach those cheapskates to try and bargain for the cheapest friggin´ urn. ”

“On it boss.”

Daniel took the bag, grabbing at the handles carefully between his thumb and index finger before realizing the heaviness of it. Confused at what he would be disposing of he decided to take a glance inside, gasping at what he saw and murmuring something along the lines of ´yikes, those kids weren´t joking around´ before composing himself. Then he remembered what the older man had told him, the meeting and the kids who´d gone wild, huffing at how careless young ones were getting. 

“That´s what he said.” Of course it had to be Ullrich to make that joke.

“You most certainly did.” Daniel was tired of playing around it, everyone else would know sooner or later, he might as well beat them to the punch.

Taking his leave, the assistant shut the door in his boss´ face, his only regret being not witnessing the face on the other side as the door slammed shut. He´d bet on outraged if it was Koschei, but the man he was dealing with would be more likely to only laugh off his actions as a joke. Daniel reevaluated his sanity and why was he still taking orders from someone who by the end of the month could be struggling to meet the demands of his nonhuman customers.

“Stop me if I'm wrong but I thought he slept with the Doc.” Once again Byung-ho had allowed himself to get sidetracked by the conversation he´d overhead. Who was sleeping with who was always an attention grabber, with such a measly population of Myth in the surrounding area everyone knew about everyone else's life. It could be amazing when gossiping but when it turned on you doing something stupid it would be less than twenty-four hours before word and went around twice.

Ullrich turned around, chuckled and leaned back against the door, a dreamy smile playing upon his lips. Was that his heart beating a little faster or just the rush of someone else knowing he´d some something naughty? At forty he´d expected to be more settled down but couldn´t help but be all over the place and over anyone who´d show interest in him. By the end of it all it would be a miracle if he ever found someone who´d be willing to put up with his often scatterbrained behavior.

“He did. We´ve also been sleeping together, you know, trying to get a feel if there´s something between us.”

“From what I can tell there´s two in that between. Honestly, shouldn’t you go for someone that´s decade younger than you only after your fiftieth?” Anyone could’ve guessed the man would try and seduce any assistant that walked through the front door but Byung-ho was surprised said assistant actually would try to make any sort of relationship last, or Ullrich for that matter.

“Heh, what can I say? He´s cute.”

Sauntering back to the counter the black-haired man smiled so innocently it was hard to imagine him as an Overseer and then there they were, back at their starting positions, both leaning at the counter. Lighting struck and a lightbulb lit up at a rush of thought. He was a friggin´ Overseer and Koschei was dead!

“By the way, how´d the meeting go? I can tell you´re trying to avoid the subject.”

“Pfft, am not.” The man took on and indignant air but could not hold it for long. “You know that feeling when you´re lying in bed and wake up in a relaxed state of mind? Well this psycho rabbit tore the covers right off and threw a bucket of ice water on our heads and now we´re screaming ´what the hell´ and still not aware of what happened.” He´d cracked but did not tell the whole truth. Luciana would rip his heart out and stop on it if he allowed Myths to panic. "I hate those meetings by the way, or at least how I have to act. They already know how I´m not the most empathetic guy around, why pretend?"

“Huh-huh, I though the Overseers were supposed to have come to an agreement.”

It was clear the funeral director was attempting to hide whatever had happened at the meeting and trying to repress his gossipy nature. Either the Overseers had decided to act alone or something else was going on. Had they found out who had it been?

“We sort of did.”

So, an action course had already been taken.

Narrowing his eyes Byung-ho knew all he had to do was pressure the man in front of him and information would come pouring out. He had to know, for Yeong-hui´s safety. Both him and Eun-ah could take care of themselves but put their little bird on the line and they´d cross it to get her to safety.

“´Sort of´? Isn´t your job along the lines of offering guidance? Because we could use some right now.”

“Over a century or two ago yes, but now look at us. Most centenaries are either out there exploring or dead. There´s about thirty of us in the area and in a few other cities with couples or loners scattered out there. It would be a miracle if there were what, two, three thousand of us left? Make it five thousand and you´ve got a miracle. We have no experience on this subject, we can deal with human attacks but not this.” It was getting to a breaking point, the manananggal nearing a collapse of self-restraint and only the picture of the others asking him to keep silent holding in the straw before it broke the camel´s back.

“Thank you for the update but what are you going to do? Stop beating around the bush.”

“Alright fine. We'll-” The bell hanging over the door jingled and the perfect excuse walked through the threshold in the form of a grieving older man and two younger adults. “Oh, customers. Talk to you later.” Patting Byung-ho´s shoulder with a feather light touch Ullrich let a trained expression of comfort take over, but not before grinning subtly at the frustrated wraith, and headed over to greet his customers. “I´m so sorry for your loss, my most sincere condolences. What can I do for you?”

The wraith knew that was the end of their conversation, if he tried to wait for the humans to leave it would only make him out to be an insensitive man in their eyes and even if he did wait Ullrich would try and drag out the interactions. No point in waiting, lunchtime was nearing and he needed to get home.

A sigh and Byung-ho was outside, the sudden blinding sunlight not entirely to his liking and the heat only worsening his mood. People still walked about, unaware and complacent in their daily lives. He envied them sometimes, not having to worry about persecution and survival with the ever-growing vigilance in the modern society. No, that didn´t matter at the moment, he needed answers and he knew who he could get them from. After lunch. 

“Looks like Miss Bell is getting a surprise visit.”


End file.
